The Sharpest Lives
by Hyperactive Lioness
Summary: Set after GONE. Caine, Drake, and Diana meet a girl who's fate quickly becomes intertwined with theirs. (Apologies for overdone theme of Drake-And-A-Girl. Updated after two year hiatus.)
1. Memory

**Hey guys... This is my first fanfic for Gone! I'm really excited! So yeah... This takes off where Gone ends, with Caine and the coyotes and things. I made Diana and Drake go along with Caine on his little jaunt to the Darkness, though. Here we go...**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, or the song "Memory", I only own Alex....**

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_Give me a shot to remember_

_And you can take all the pain away from me_

_A kiss and I will surrender_

_The sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead_

_A light to burn all the empires_

_So bright the sun is ashamed to rise and be_

_In love with all of these vampires_

_So you can leave like the sane abandoned me_

_-_"The Sharpest Lives" by My Chemical Romance

**Chapter One: Memory**

Caine glanced up at the sky.

Vultures were wheeling overhead, but he paid them no mind. It was the sun that held his attention, a sun that was quickly nearing the horizon. He shouted ahead.

"We have to stop."

Pack Leader turned around slowly. "Need to reach The Darkness tonight, human." Caine looked at the coyote in disgust.

"We can reach The Darkness tomorrow. Right now, most of us are dead on our feet." He took a quick glance at the girl next to him, as if for reassurance. Diana stared defiantly ahead, but her eyes looked weary.

"We're stopping," a voice came from behind them, a gleeful and menacing voice that Caine would recognize anywhere; Drake Merwin's voice. He had been playing with his whip-hand for the duration of the trek, enjoying the sound it made, cracking in the dry desert air. "I'm not walking throughout the night."

Pack Leader growled. "Whatever you say, Whip Hand." He turned to one of the other coyotes. "Cactus. Go find shelter for the humans." The coyote named Cactus raced off into the growing blackness, and was back within minutes. He yipped excitedly at Pack Leader, who in turn, spoke to Caine.

"There's a small cabin," he rasped. "Up that hill. Pack will hunt, humans rest." The group of coyotes wheeled as one and ran into the night; Pack Leader howling. Caine faced Drake and Diana.

"Let's go," he said, moving to grab Diana's arm. But in the end he thought better of it, letting his arm fall awkwardly back at his side.

"Whatever you say, Fearless Leader," she replied, smirking. Drake pushed past them both, going in the direction that Pack Leader had indicated. Diana, still smirking, fell into step behind him. Caine was left standing there.

"Let's get going, Loverboy." You could tell that Drake was sneering without needing to see. Caine growled and almost ran to the front of the line, but not before using his power to trip Drake, causing him to sprawl in the sand. He leapt up, eyeing Caine menacingly, the whip waving by his side.

Diana rolled her eyes at the both of them. "Come on," she said commandingly. "Do you want to get to that cabin before it's pitch black out here, or what?" That subdued the two boys, who had been glaring at each other, on the verge of a fight.

**XxXxX**

Caine reached the cabin first. He glanced at it warily, then turned to the others.

"There's a light on inside."

Diana sighed. "I'll go first, if you want me to, Fearless Leader." She reached for the doorknob, and the moment she touched it, they heard music coming from the open window. Somebody playing a piano and singing along.

_"Memory, all alone in the moonlight, I can smile at the old days, I was beautiful then... I remember a time I knew what happiness was, let the memory live again..."_

"What is that?" Drake questioned. The whip twitched at his side.

"It's called _music_, Drake," Diana answered, smirking. "Probably something that a disturbed boy like yourself would fail to understand, as it's made to make people happy."

_"Touch me, it's so easy to leave me all alone with the memory of my days in the sun... If you touch me you'll understand what happiness is, look, a new day has begun..."_

Caine had had enough of just standing around, listening to this mystery person singing. His burnt arm ached, and he was tired. He yanked the door open harshly, and the music stopped.

The music maker turned around from her spot at the piano. Her bright green eyes gave the three of them a once-over, only pausing for the briefest of seconds on Drake's whip-arm.

"Why are you in my house?" she asked evenly, staring at Caine. "Shouldn't you be back at Perdido Beach, running things?"

"You're from Perdido Beach?" Diana asked assertively, stepping in front of Caine. The girl nodded. "Well, why aren't you there now?"

"I left right after you Coates Academy kids showed up," she replied with something of a sneer playing around her mouth. "Once _he--_" she nodded at Caine, "stepped out of that car, I knew that I wouldn't like how things were going to be run." Caine glared at her. "So I've just been living here, by myself." Diana walked over to her.

"Give me your hand." The girl looked taken aback.

"No."

"You'd better give her your hand," Drake said menacingly, advancing on both of the girls, whip-arm outstretched.

It didn't take any more then the blink of an eye. The girl's hand raised, palm-out, and Drake's whip-arm was encased in ice. He howled in pain; apparently the whip still had feeling. Then, as quickly as it came, the ice melted and the water splashed to the floor. The girl lowered her arm.

"She controls water," Caine muttered under his breath, wishing he had Computer Jack's PDA.

"If you tell me to take your hand," the girl said loudly to Diana, while glaring at Drake, "you better tell me why." Diana smiled, a cold smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"I read people's power level," she said, stepping closer to the girl, who inched back instinctively. "It's completely safe. Just give me your hand." The girl held out her hand slowly, palm up. Diana took it roughly. They stood like that for a few seconds, but it felt like forever to Caine.

_She can't be a four-bar, _he thought almost frantically. _It's bad enough that I have to share that with Sam. This girl can't be one, too! _

"Three bars," Diana said finally. Caine mentally sighed with relief. The girl still looked wary, but didn't speak. A few awkward seconds passed.

"So... Can we stay here?" Caine asked. The girl turned her gaze on him.

"I guess so. This isn't really even my cabin; I found it after I left Perdido Beach. The owners poofed, I guess." Without any further ado, Drake, Caine and Diana all sat on different chairs.

"We've been walking for a long time," Diana explained as she put her feet up on the armrest of Caine's chair. The girl, seeing that there was no more chairs, simply settled herself on the floor.

"What are your names?" she asked bluntly. "Sorry, I didn't really pay any attention to your speech back in Perdido Beach." This last statement was directed at Caine, who looked a little taken aback, but answered her question.

"My name's Caine Soren, this is Diana Ladris, and the cheerful one is Drake Merwin." Drake glanced up from looking at his whip-arm, smiled sarcastically, and looked back down. "And who are you?"

"My name's Alex Lucine," she said. "The 'Alex' is short for something, but you're not learning what."

"Fair enough," Caine said without cracking a smile, and suddenly felt his stomach contract with pain. He hadn't had anything to eat since before the battle at Perdido Beach, and he didn't think now was the time to be polite. So he said, "is there any food in this cabin of yours?"

"Down the hall, the kitchen is the first door to your left."

Caine stood up and exited, noticing that Diana and Drake were quick to follow him. The kitchen was spacious, filled with cabinets, racks of spices, and a large table surrounded by five chairs. They immediately began looking for food; Drake using his whip-arm to search the higher cabinets. The sound of piano music soon reached their ears; Alex had resumed playing.

"What do you think?" Diana asked over the sound of Alex's music and the microwave whirring.

"Of this ice cream? That it's the best thing I've eaten in a long time," Caine replied, dipping a spoon back into the ice cream carton.

"Ha ha, very funny," she said contemptuously. "Of this girl, Alex Lucine. Is a three bar. Controls water. Froze Drake's, um, _arm _with just the barest amount of moisture that's in this desert air. What do you think about _that, _Fearless Leader?"

"One, I wish you'd stop calling me that. Two, the girl's powerful, and power is the one thing that we need when we go back to Perdido Beach to fight Sam." Diana wasn't surprised by this announcement. Caine would never be satisfied until his brother was beaten.

"So we get her to join our side, then?" Drake asked.

"Naturally," Caine responded, "but first--" At that moment, Alex herself walked into the room.

She raised an eyebrow at their huddle. "Talking about me?"

"Naturally," Drake shot back in an accurate impression of Caine. She laughed.

"I'd be surprised if you weren't," she replied. "You don't strike me as a very _trusting _group." She walked over to the refrigerator and yanked it open. A blast of cold air suddenly went to the room. "D'you want anything else to eat? We've got Hot Pockets, wings, sandwitch stuff... I see you already found the ice cream." This was directed at Caine, who had just thrown the carton in the trash and the spoon in the sink.

"It's okay," Diana said, pulling the pizza out of the microwave, trying to mask the fact that she was dying to bite into it, "we already made this. You can have some, if you want." It was actually Alex's pizza, after all. The girl in question took a slice, then sat at the table next to Drake and across from Caine. Diana sat next to her.

Through bites of cheese and pepperoni, she asked Drake; "What _is _that thing on your arm, anyway?" He uncoiled his whip from his side and held it out for Alex to inspect. She touched it, and felt that although it was living, it was snakelike, scaly and tough.

"This guy named Sam Temple; he's like you, with powers; he burned my real arm, and they-" he gestured to Caine and Diana, "had to cut it off. Then, this other girl with powers, Lana, tried to heal the stump, and this grew from it." He waved the whip and it grazed the ceiling, and he didn't say anything more, nothing about The Darkness' involvement in all of this.

"Who is that kid, Sam?" she asked. "I heard you say his name when you were talking about me."

"He's Caine's brother," Diana interjected hastily. Alex's head turned towards Caine, who was busy glaring at Diana. "We don't like Sam Temple very much," she finished.

"If it means anything, _I _hate his guts," Drake supplied. "_Schoolbus Sam _is going to save the day." Something in Alex's brain suddenly clicked at Drake's words.

"Schoolbus Sam!" she exclaimed. "He was in my Lit and Social Studies classes at school! And _he _did this to you?" She eyed Drake's whip-arm. "I don't think that Sam would do that."

"Well sorry to crush your expectations for high-and-mighty Sam Temple," Drake said with a sneer, "but he was the one who burned my arm so badly that it needed to be amputated. He's done a lot of things."

"So have you, Drake," Caine said quietly, trying to remind him without Alex hearing.

"So WHAT, Caine?" Drake rounded on him, and he barely suppressed his instinct to flinch. "We ALL have! You, me, Diana, Sam, even the genius girl with the retard brother, we all have done something!" He sat back down, breathing heavily.

"Sorry," Caine said quickly to Alex, trying to smooth the whole situation over. "We're not the most popular people down in Perdido Beach."

"Some would even go so far as to call us the villains," Diana said, "but enough about us. What about you?"

"Well," Alex began, searching for the words. "My mom died when I was four. My dad was under the firm belief that it was my fault, so he abused me. So whatever caused this, whatever caused the FAYZ, it can have him. I'm just happy to be free for once.

"And how old are you?"

"I poof in exactly a month."

Caine kept his mouth shut, and his expression warned Drake and Diana to do the same. Sure, Alex could be an asset to their group, and she could help them, but there was no way he was telling her that he knew how to beat the poof this early in the game. Not until he was completely sure that she wouldn't go to Sam's side.

"How about you guys?" Alex was asking.

"Yeah, we poof soon, too." Caine's answer was vague, but it seemed to placate Alex. No more words were spoken, but they set about to devour the slices of pizza that were left. Drake remained slumped in his chair, the earlier emotional outburst clearly taking its toll on him.

Out in the darkness a coyote howled, and the hairs on the nape of Alex's neck stood on end.

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**So there it was, the first chapter! :) It gets better as we go on, and the stuff from "Hunger" begins to come into play... And don't worry, Alex, Drake and Diana aren't going to actually GO with Caine to The Darkness, so it's all good. **

**Review and remember, it's just a FAYZ. :D**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	2. Lion

**And so we start Chapter Two of "The Sharpest Lives"! Much thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Gone" or the song "Lion" by Rebecca St. James.  
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**Chapter Two: Lion**

Drake woke in the middle of the night, panting like he had just run a mile. The clock on the bedside table read **2:04**; but he didn't feel near as tired as he should have. For a wild minute he wasn't sure where he was, but then everything came rushing back to him, like it did every time.

No parents, the FAYZ, uncertainty. Caine, Diana, anger. Sam, fire, pain. Whip Hand, Pack Leader, power. And Alex, this new, strange, water-wielding girl. And here he was, in the cabin that she had claimed as her own.

He sighed, grateful that nobody could hear.

There was no point in trying to fall asleep again; he knew the sleep would never come. And even if it did, the nightmares would come with it.

Drake Merwin had so many nightmares.

The whip twitched at his side.

He sat up.

And then he heard it. It was faint, but he still caught the sound. Music; the thing that Diana said he wouldn't, _couldn't_ understand.

_I can understand anything and everything that Diana Ladris can, _he told himself firmly. And so, mainly to spite an unwatching Diana, he got up out of the bed and walked silently down the hall into the living room.

It was Alex, of course, playing softly at the piano, and singing almost silently. Drake strained to catch the words.

_"Mysterious, that's what I call you... I'm curious about you... I'm scared and I'm not sure that you are safe... But your eyes seem to say that you are good..." _Drake almost snorted with contempt; he didn't need to listen to some sappy love song. Drake Merwin was not safe, and his eyes would never dare to say such a ludicrous thing such as he was _good_. Drake was anything but good.

_"This is not a dream that I'm living, this is just a world of your own... You took me from all that I knew, showed me how it feels to hope... It's you with me, facing tomorrow together, I can learn to fly... Feels like I'm living in the lion's mouth, but the lion is an angel..."_

Drake leaned against the wall. He was going to hear the rest of this song out, and then confront Alex about it. If these were her lyrics, they needed some serious changes. First of all, nothing about _hope_. There was not hope for the kids in the FAYZ; especially the townies. Second, lions could not be _angels_.

_"Wise eyes, you see the core of me, your gentleness melts me... And now I know that words cannot describe the power that I feel when I'm with you..."_

Drake found himself grinning. This was more down his alley. If he ever got a girlfriend, she couldn't be afraid of power. Or tentacles, but that goes without saying. He came back to reality just as Alex was finishing the chorus.

_"But the lion is..."_

Drake waited for the dreaded "an angel". Alex was silent, until...

"Merwin, I know you're there." Drake stepped out of the hall, and she turned to face him. "Do you _usually _spy on girls at two in the morning?" Drake sneered.

"Why were _you _playing the piano at two in the morning?" he countered. "Or _did _you want to wake up everyone?"

"I only see you awake," she shot back, "and I was playing so quietly I'm surprised that even you could hear it from where you were standing anyway!"

"What _was _that you were playing, by the way?" Drake asked, his nice tone extremely fake. "Something about good eyes, hope, and oh yeah, _angel lions_." He let out a short, barklike laugh. "Beautiful lyrics, Alex." She turned back to the piano, but not before he caught a glimpse of the hurt in her eyes, For some reason, it didn't cause him as much pleasure as it should have.

"What would you know about beauty, Drake Merwin?" she asked in a very small voice, almost a whisper. Upon hearing those words, he strode towards her and laid his whip-arm around her neck, not squeezing, not crushing, just a light pressure. He felt her breath catch in her throat, and grinned. He was still in charge.

He released her roughly, believing that she had gotten the message, and stalked over to one of the chairs. She resumed quietly playing the piano; though it wasn't the same song as before. She didn't sing.

The minutes passed. Drake found himself absentmindedly tapping his whip-arm to the beat of the music, and yet he wasn't tired.

Suddenly, abruptly, the music stopped and Alex came to sit in the other chair beside Drake. He almost flinched.

_I just threatened her and she still comes to sit next to me? _This was something new to Drake. He was used to pleading and cowering, not this; whatever _this _was.

"You three really _do _hate Sam Temple, don't you?" she asked quietly, and Drake could tell that she had been thinking about this for a while. He was silent.

He truly _did _want to tell her what he thought of Sam Temple, how he had actually kind of liked the boy in the very beginning, how he was just doing his job when Sam began rebelling further and further against Caine. And then Sam did the unforgivable; he caused Drake pain.

Burning, clawing, twisting, inconceivable pain.

He was Sam's enemy after that, even more so then he was before.

But of course, he wasn't about to tell Alex any of this. Doing so would mean showing weakness, and Drake Merwin never showed weakness.

"Yeah, we do," he said shortly. "You'd hate him too, if he burned your arm off." She shrugged, then stood up.

"Do you want to hear the rest of that song?" He raised his eyebrows non-comittally. She shrugged again. "I'll take that as a, 'sure Alex, play me the rest of the song so we can marvel at your amazing skills'." He scowled, she smiled.

Sitting down at the piano, she resumed playing and sang- _"But the lion is... Peace and power, love forever, who am I to stand before you? I am speechless, but in my weakness, you are here and all is well..." _She stopped playing, and he thought it was over. But then, with no piano accompanying her, she sang-

_"You took me from all that I knew, showed me how it feels to hope..." _She started playing again. _"It's you with me, facing tomorrow together, I can learn to fly... Feels like I'm living in the lion's mouth but the lion is an angel, is an angel..." _She played the ending and then turned around.

"I just really like that song, and if you--" she paused; she was talking to an empty room. Smiling shrewdly, she turned back to the piano.

It would take more than music to win over someone as cold-hearted as Drake Merwin.

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**Please review if you have read! **

**Peace out,**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	3. The Unwinding Cable Car

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**Hello everyone! Thanks to Kagane and Polymath78 for reviewing last time! I don't want to waste any more of your time, so on with the story! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone! (Too bad, though...) Or the song 'The Unwinding Cable Car' by Anberlin.  
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**Chapter Three: The Unwinding Cable Car**

Alex woke to a shrill cry.

"He's gone! He just _left_!"

The sound unmistakably came from a female; Diana. But from what she had seen of the dark-haired girl, she didn't usually yell like this. Something must be wrong.

"What is it?" she asked, running into the kitchen as soon as she changed out of her pajamas. "What happened?"

"Caine," Diana replied. She sounded breathless. "Read this." A piece of lined notebook paper was roughly shoved under Alex's nose, and she read-

_Diana, Drake, and Alex,_

_I'm leaving, well, have already left by the time you read this. I have some business to attend to with Pack Leader and the rest of the coyotes. Don't come looking for me._

_The best thing for you to do is to head back to Coates. Either Alex comes, or she stays at the cabin. It's her decision. Let Drake lead; he can find the way back to Coates. _

_Thank you, Alex, for letting us stay with you._

_And Diana... You already know how I feel about you, so I won't put it in writing._

_-Caine_

Alex handed the note back to Diana, who had an odd expression on her face, just as Drake sauntered in, whip-arm wrapped around his waist.

"Nice of you to show up," Diana snapped as he poured himself a glass of water.

"Good morning to you, too," he said sarcastically. "Okay, okay. What did I miss?" Alex noticed that he carefully avoided looking her way. After that, she didn't look at him either.

"Caine's gone," Diana said harshly. "He left to go with Pack Leader by himself." She snatched the note from Alex and flung it at Drake. "See for yourself." Drake read the note quickly, then placed it on the counter.

"Well? What do you think?"

"We should just go back to Coates," Drake replied after some thought. "This _thing _that he has to do with the Darkness, it's kind of something he has to do alone. Trust me, he wouldn't want anyone else there, anyway." Diana looked resigned after Drake's proclamation, and she turned to Alex.

"He said you had a choice," she said, waving her hand vaguely at Caine's note. "Come with us, stay here. Which one?"

"Give me a minute," Alex replied, sitting at one of the kitchen table's chairs. Drake left, and Diana remained standing, staring at the blond girl who had her head bowed like she was praying.

Diana wanted to scream, to shake Alex, to tell her not to even consider what was going through her head, to not get mixed up in the same mess that she, Drake and Caine were stuck in, but she said nothing.

This was Alex's decision, Caine had said so.

Minutes passed like years. Finally, Alex looked up.

"I'm coming with you."

Diana shook her head, pity filling her eyes. "You have absolutely no idea what you're getting into. Me, Caine, Drake... We're not exactly the good guys."

Alex took a deep breath. "Maybe... Maybe I'm not either." And as Diana looked into Alex's eyes, as brown met green, she realized that she wasn't the only one with secrets.

XxXxX

"Crackers?" Alex yelled.

"Bring them," Diana yelled back. They were going through the cabinets, taking food for the journey, and hiding whatever they couldn't carry so the Perdido Beach kids couldn't find it, and so it could be an absolute last resort for them.

Drake and his prying whip-arm had discovered a cellar hidden in the floorboards, almost completely invisible. It was like a refrigerator, so that's where they stashed all of the perishable food.

Finally, near nightfall, they were ready to leave.

"If we walk through the night, we should be at, or at least near, Coates," Drake had half-muttered to himself, studying a map.

"How are we going to see anything, walking in the middle of the night?" Diana had asked shrewdly. "We might all walk off a cliff!" Alex nodded, agreeing. Drake had scowled.

"Caine said that while he's gone, I lead," he had said stubbornly. "We're leaving now, we're walking through the night, and _no complaining_!" Diana, who had just opened her mouth, shut it angrily. Drake smirked in a self-satisfied sort of way, and opened the door.

XxXxX

Alex soon found out that walking with Drake and Diana in the near-pitch blackness wasn't very fun. Drake was in the lead, whip-arm wrapped around a flashlight, keeping its light shining directly on the ground in front of him. Diana was in the middle, carrying a smaller flashlight and using it to illuminate the shadows surrounding them. And Alex was last, with no flashlight. She had turned down Diana's initial offer, but now was wishing she had that extra light.

The silence was never broken, except for the occasional "We're nearly quarter of the way there" from Drake, or "Watch out for those rocks on your left" from Diana. It was nearing eleven o'clock, and Alex's eyelids felt heavy; a side affect of staying awake until two o'clock the previous night.

_If I don't find something to keep my mind occupied, I'm going to fall asleep while I'm still walking, _she thought. _Well, singing has always kept me awake... But I'm not sure now's the correct time for that. _She yawned, and the other two didn't even glance back at the sudden sound. _Well, maybe if I sing quietly._

She heard the music begin in her head, like always, and smiled to herself at the opening guitar chords.

_"Emotive unstable you're like an unwinding cable car," _she sang softly. She saw Diana flinch a little, but the other girl said nothing. _" Listening for voices but it's the choices that make us who we are... Go your own way, even seasons have changed, just burn those new leaves over... So self-absorbed, you've seemed to ignore the prayers that have already come about..." _And then suddenly, Drake was there beside her. She stopped singing abruptly.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed.

"Singing," she replied nonchalantly. "I was about to fall asleep, and singing has always kept me awake."

"So I've noticed," he said, scowling. "Well, don't let me stop you." His whip-arm twitched, and he didn't return to the front of the line. Alex took a deep breath and continued at where she had left off, the chorus.

_"This is the correlation of salvation and love; don't drop your arms, don't drop your arms, I'll guard your heart, with quiet words I'll lead you in... La la la la, la la la, la la la la... La la la la, la la la, la la la la..."_

She risked a quick look at Drake. The last time he heard her sing, he hadn't liked that the song spoke of hope. How would he take a song that the main theme was salvation and love?

But he was simply walking along beside her, gaze fixed firmly ahead, whip coiled around his waist. So she continued.

_"Backing away from the problem of pain, you never had a home... You've been misguided, you're hiding in shadows for so very long... Don't you believe that you've been deceived, that you're no better than... The hair in your eyes never disguised what you're really thinking of..."_

He began walking quicker. Tired as she was, she matched his pace and sang the chorus once, twice. He glared at her, and she sang,

_"You're so brilliant, don't soon forget, you're so brilliant, grace marked your heart, you're so brilliant, don't soon forger, you're so brilliant, grace marked your heart..."_

"Stop," Drake hissed.

_"You're so brilliant..."_

"Stop," Drake said again, in a louder tone.

_"This is the correlation between salvation and love..."_

"You had better shut up," he said loudly, uncoiling his whip.

_"Don't soon forget, don't drop your arms, you're so brilliant... With quiet words I'll lead you in and out of the dark..."_

"SHUT UP!" Drake screamed. Ahead, Diana halted, but didn't turn around. The flashlight had fallen from his grasp, and was now on the ground, shining up into his face. His eyes were wide, and be was breathing heavily. The whip hung limp at his side. Alex stood back a little, wary.

"Just... stop, alright?" Drake spoke after a few tense seconds had passed. He bent, scooped up the flashlight, and began walking. After hesitating, Alex followed, and soon fell into her old place, walking beside him.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, not daring to look at him. She heard a heavy sigh.

"I don't know who you were singing that for." His tone was quiet also, like he didn't want Diana to hear. "I don't even know _if _you were singing that for someone. But it sounded like it was meant for me. I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything, but it did." She didn't speak, and he didn't want her to. "And I don't know what kind of image you have of me after the day and a half we've known each other, but I'm pretty sure you don't even know who I am."

_But I do, _his conscience spoke even softer then he did to Alex, in the undertones of his thoughts. _You're Drake, Drake Merwin the powerful._

_Drake Merwin the commanding._

_Drake Merwin, the kid in charge._

_Drake Merwin, deceiver._

_Drake Merwin, thief._

_Drake Merwin, torturer._

_Drake Merwin... _**_murderer._**

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the voice, but it just laughed, a cold, unloving laugh that he had heard usher from his mouth more then once. He almost broke down right then and there, but Alex's voice brought him straight back to reality.

"Drake?" she said his name in almost a whisper. "If you want to tell me, I'd like to learn who you are." Her hand touched his whip-arm, and it twitched. He had never felt a touch like that.

"I don't think you would," he said darkly, and stalked back to the front of the line, pushing roughly past Diana. Alex stared after him, grateful that he couldn't see the pity in her eyes.

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**Oh... my! So we have a little emo-angsty-ness in there... Nice.**

**Anyways, I'd really like some reviews, so if you've read and enjoyed, review! If you've read and have some criticizm, review! If you've read and hated it, and want to flame, get outta here, man!**

**Happy Monday, everyone!  
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**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	4. Scars

**Heyy all of you people! Here's the latest installment of 'The Sharpest Lives'! I'm really excited, because Drake gets to use a GUN in this chapter! :) And we all know how much he loves them! On with the story!**

**DISClAIMER: I own nothing, except for one blond chick named Alex Lucine, and a random boy named Alex Barrino who plays a very integral role later... But for now, only makes a brief appearance. But he's awesome, trust me. And forgive me for the name repeat, there will only be two Alexes in this story! XD**

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**Chapter Four: Scars**

They reached Coates Academy near sunrise. Alex was nearly dead on her feet, and Diana looked as bad as Alex felt. Only Drake seemed fully awake. He hadn't said a word for the rest of the time they were walking, just stared with stony indifference at the horizon.

"Thank God," Diana breathed as they walked through the building's front double-doors. "I thought that trek would never end. Well, I'm going to bed." Then she was gone, leaving Drake and Alex together in a very awkward silence.

"I guess I'll show you where you can stay," Drake said, his voice sounding indifferent. He led her up staircases and down hallways, until he stopped outside of a nondescript door. "This can be your room. Someone'll show you around when you wake up, I guess." He left, and she walked into her room.

It was, like the door, nondescript, nothing special. A bed in a corner, a dresser in another. She took four steps and sank into the bed, not even bothering to take off her shoes, and let sleep, sweet sleep, claim her.

XxXxX

Two days later, Alex hopped out of bed, feeling a desperate need for a shower. She pretty much knew where the basic rooms and facilities in Coates were now, thanks to a helpful tour from a friendly boy named Alex Barrino the other day. She hadn't seen either Drake or Diana in the two days she had spent at Coates, and was feeling kind of out of place. She didn't really talk to anyone; she pretty much stayed in her room.

_If this goes on for another day, I'm definitely finding someone and telling them to give me something to do, or else I'll go insane, cooped up in this room._

She gathered her clothes and shower things, brought from the cabin, and walked down the hall to the bathroom. She undressed, after she securely locked the door; somehow, she ended up in a hallway that the rooms were all full of boys; and stepped under the steaming jet of hot water, letting a small sigh of contentment escape her lips.

Then, looking down, she saw the thin cut, going from halfway down her shin until her ankle, it was crusted with dried blood and stung when she touched it. Wincing, she remembered sprawling down the steps last night when she was running back to her room after dinner.

_Why the heck was I running? _was her first thought, and her second one was, _that's sure going to leave a scar. _And, as fate would have it, a song started running through her head, just as she began to shampoo her hair. And _again, _the song was immensely perfect for the instance. That's just fate.

_"I tear my heart open, I sew myself shut," _she sang. _"My weakness is that I care too much... And my scars remind me that the past is real, I tear my heart open just to feel..."_

Outside the door, Drake paused. Was that _singing _he heard? Nah, people didn't _sing _at Coates. Then he remembered; Alex was at Coates now. And that girl would sing _anywhere._

He leaned against the doorway. It wasn't that he necessarily _liked _Alex in any way, shape, or form, but dang, did that girl have a voice. And the songs she sang just had a way of getting into his subconscious and staying there. Example; the line _"The hair in your eyes never disguised what you're really thinking of"_ had been running through his head ever since Alex had sang it, which was about two days ago.

_"I'm drunk and I'm feeling down, and I just wanna be alone," _Alex sang from the shower. _I'm pissed 'cause you came around, why don't you just go home? 'Cause you channeled all your pain, and I can't help you fix yourself, you're making me insane, all I can say is... I tear my heart open, I sew myself shut... And my weakness is that I care too much, and our scars remind us that the past is real, I tear my heart open, just to feel..."_

Drake knew this. Song, Scars. Artist, Papa Roach. Album, Getting Away With Murder. It was one of his favorites. But he had never heard a girl sing it, and definitely not with as much feeling as Alex was.

_"I tried to help you once, against my own advice, I saw you going down but you never realized... That you're drowning in the water, so I offered you my hand... Compassion's in my nature, tonight is our last stand..." _Alex repeated the chorus, then sang- _"I'm drunk and I'm feeling down, and I just wanna be alone, you should've never come around, why don't you just go home? 'Cause you're drowning in the water, and I tried to grab your hand... I left my heart open, but you didn't understand... But you didn't understand..."_

Alex paused where Drake knew, in the actual song, the lead singer screamed- "GO FIX YOURSELF!" But Alex didn't, and her pause was so long, Drake thought that she wasn't going to sing anymore. But then...

_"I can't help you fix yourself, but at least I can say I tried, I'm sorry but I gotta move on with my own life..."_

And Drake made up his mind.

He knocked on the door, and the singing immediately stopped, and so did the running shower.

"Yes?" Alex called tentatively from the other side of the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Drake."

"Well, Mr. Never Come And See How I'm Doing In This Place That I've Never Been Before, I'm kind of taking a _shower_ here, whatever you want to say, can't it _wait_?" Drake scowled. He didn't like waiting, or being called names by Alex Lucine. He heard her sigh. "What do you want?"

"I'm having a meeting in the Dining Hall," he replied coldly. "For people who want to become soldiers. You can come."

"Why would I _want _to come?" she asked. "Why do you need _soldiers_, anyway?"

"Just come to the Dining Hall after you're done here," he said, trying to be mysterious. As he walked away, he heard the shower turn back on, and the sound of Alex's voice.

XxXxX

Alex walked down the hall, drying her hair with a towel as she went. Pushing open the doors to the Dining Hall, she quietly slipped inside.

About ten to twelve kids were seated there, no girls, no smiles, and no Drake. She sat herself beside a boy who looked to be about thirteen. He turned towards her, eyed her warily, and turned away.

_Wow, I can sure feel the friendship and love that these kids have, _she thought sarcastically. _They're so welcoming, and not at all suspicious of strangers._

Suddenly, interrupting her thoughts, Drake sauntered in, whip-arm wrapped around his waist like usual.

"You're all here?" he asked, his cold gaze sweeping the room; did he linger on Alex, or was that just her imagination? "Good. Do you all have a weapon of some sort?" A few kids held pistols in the air, two had rifles. Drake nodded. "We'll get the rest of you guns soon. Now, are any of you mutants? Do any of you have powers of any sort?"

"I do," Alex said loudly. The boys shook their heads 'no'. Drake seemed satisfied.

"It doesn't matter that _most_ of you don't have powers," he said. "They're not everything. _I _don't have mutant powers of any kind, and I get along just fine." Silence followed this little speech, and Alex clenched her fists together.

_Why did he even ask me to be here if all he's going to do is talk about how powers don't matter? If he's so against them, well, I'll learn how to shoot a gun and I won't use my powers!_

She felt all eyes on her, and blushing, she realized that she had said the last part out loud. Drake narrowed his eyes at her.

"Thank you, Alex," he said in a voice that was trying too hard to be civil. She smiled weakly. "Now... If you'll all follow me, I have something set up in the courtyard.

XxXxX

Five targets stood in a line, and the eleven boys plus Alex looked at them warily. Drake came out of the school, carrying an armful of guns and ammo. He walked among them, handing out the weapons. When he reached Alex, he shoved the gun into her hands with a little too much force, almost knocking her backwards.

_So that's how he wants to play? _Alex thought, glaring at Drake's back; _well, I can play too._

As he taught them how to load and fire the weapons, Alex paid careful attention. She was _not _going to screw up and give him that satisfaction.

When they could all load and cock the guns fast enough to please Drake (who, as they learned quickly, was slightly OCD about guns), they were ready to actually shoot at targets.

Alex walked up to the line that Drake had drawn in the dirt and hefted the gun. She lined up the target in the sights and breathed out heavily. She pulled the trigger.

The sound was deafening; her ears were ringing. The kick had slammed her so hard that she was sure it would bruise, and red spots were swimming in her vision. Suddenly, the gun was yanked from her grip and Drake's face was inches from her own.

"That was probably the worst shot I have ever seen," he hissed. She cleared her head long enough to shoot him a dirty look, which he returned.

"Well, _sorry_ that my first time ever shooting a gun wasn't absolutely perfect," she snarled back. "Give me some time to get used to it!"

"Fine. Go again."

XxXxX

An hour and a half and thirty-six bullets later, Alex's skills with a gun weren't getting any better.

"Actually, I think you've gotten worse," Drake commented gleefully as she scowled at the gun in her hands. "Too bad that last target you hit was two targets away from the one you were aiming at." She turned her scowl on him; he simply grinned back.

"Okay, I admit it, I suck at this." He smirked and his whip lashed out, grabbing the gun from her. Alex watched as he pulled the trigger one, two, three times.

_Bang, bang, bang._

Alex's target had three holes in the bulls-eye. His smirk got wider, if that was even possible, and he handed the weapon back to her.

"Showoff," she muttered under her breath, just loud enough so he could hear it.

"At least I can hit the target," he said smugly. At these words, Alex whipped around, arms raised, palms out, facing the target. A blur shot from both of her palms, then seemed to solidify in midair.

Two icicles sank into the exact center of the target.

"I guess I can hit it, too," she said, smiling widely. "Just not with bullets." He scowled, and suddenly his whip was around her wrist, and she was dragged closer to him. Her exhilaration immediately turned to fear.

"Go have some lunch, then meet me in the basement," he whispered menacingly, his breath tickling her ear. "If you don't know where it is, get directions. Just make sure you're there." He released her and stalked away, collecting the strewn guns with his whip as he walked.

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**So there's the fourth chapter! I'll try to get the next chapter up before next week... I don't know. **

**Anyway, enough of my ramblings. Review, please! :)**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	5. Weightless

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**Hey! Here's the new chapter... I don't have much to say, for once...**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own Alex...**

**WARNING: This song has one swear word in it, sorry to all whom it might offend.  
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****Chapter Five: Weightless**

After her scanty meal (food was steadily growing less and less; even the provisions they had brought from the cabin weren't enough), Alex headed down to the sub-level of the school after directions from a random boy, iPod and speakers in hand.

Drake was already there, and he frowned as soon as he caught sight of the little metallic rectangle.

"Why'd you bring _that_?"

"I just thought that we might need music for whatever you want me to do down here," she replied. "What _is _it that we're going to do, anyway?"

Drake moved aside and she saw the fatal red and white of the targets they had used that morning. She turned to face him, hands on her hips, glaring.

"I am _not _doing that any more today! You already humiliated me once, and I can't even shoot that stupid gun!" He simply smirked a little and said--

"You aren't going to shoot a _gun_, you're going to shoot water, like you did this morning. I want to see if you really _can _aim that well, or if it was just a lucky shot." She faced her palms toward the target and, just like before, a blast of water shot from her palms, turned to ice,and hit the target head-on.

"Lucky shot," she scoffed. Drake raised an eyebrow.

"Do it again, then."

She complied. The icicles hit the bulls-eye.

"Again."

The icicles hit the bulls-eye of the second target.

"Again."

And, once again, the icicles hit the dead center of the bulls-eye. Alex dropped her hands.

"Y'know, insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result," she said cynically. "You know that I can hit the bulls-eye. Now why am I _really _here?"

"Caine doesn't want me to have any freaks being soldiers," he replied matter-of-factly. She looked appalled.

"_What_ did you just call me?" she said furiously, her eyes glinting dangerously.

"A freak," Drake replied in the same matter-of-fact tone. "A nickname, for people with powers. Freak, mutant, mutie, moof... Have your pick."

"And what am I supposed to call _you_?" Alex asked defiantly, gesturing to his whip-arm. "Octo-boy? Tentacle--"

"I already _have _a nickname," Drake cut her off, and waved the whip in a lazy circle. "Whip Hand. It strikes fear into the hearts of the innocent." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm _so _glad you have your ego in check, Octo-boy. Now could we please get back to the matter at hand? _Why am I here_?"

"I said, Caine doesn't want me to train any freaks as my soldiers," Drake said, attempting to be patient (a big improvement on his part). "Only normals. I guess he wants to train the muties himself, or something. Figures that if they have powers, they don't need to know how to shoot a gun..."

"So where does that leave me?" Alex questioned. "I'm a..." --she tried to find the least offensive term to use-- "moof, so why am I not waiting for Caine to come back so he can "train" me?"

"Because my soldiers and I should be able to have at least one moof," Drake answered. "To even out the mix a bit. I mean, I'm kind of a moof myself, with the whip and everything. I'd totally count that as a superpower." Alex contemplated that for a minute.

"So are you going to teach me how to do spectacular things with my control over water now?"

Drake ignored the sarcasm. "The problem is, I have no experience teaching moofs anything," he said. "I only know how to weild a gun and how to whip." He cracked his whip-arm ferociously, then looked at it, then to Alex. The whip, then back to Alex.

Whip, Alex, whip, Alex.

"Okay, Drake, you're really starting to freak me out," Alex said loudly.

"This is what's going to happen," Drake said with the air of holding something over her head. "Alex, we're going to figure out how you can make... A water whip."

XxXxX

Alex and Drake stood side-by-side in the basement. Alex's iPod was set on 'repeat', on one song that both of them liked. Drake's whip was outstreached, and Alex's right arm was, too.

"Concentrate," Drake muttered, deadly serious. "And... Now!" A gush of clear water shot out of Alex's right palm. Her face contorted as she tried to control it. It began moving backwards, covering her hand, her wrist...

"You're doing it!" Drake said loudly, and the water splashed to the floor as her concentration was broken. Alex rounded on Drake.

"Yeah, I was _doing it_, until _someone_ interrupted me!" she snapped. Drake scowled.

"Fine, I won't talk. Just try it again."

_"Manage me, I'm a mess," _the speakers sang as the song started again. _"Turn a page, I'm a book, half-unread..." _Alex concentrated with all of her might, and the water made it a little past her elbow before it splashed to the floor again.

_"I wanna be laughed at, laughed with, just because..."_

She bit her lip as she tried for a third time. She could hear Drake's breathing as he stood, tense, next to her, and she could tell he was dying to say something, to give her direction, but he kept his promise and his mouth stayed shut.

_"I wanna feel weightless, and that should be enough..."_

Suddenly, she gave a huge surge of energy, and the water flowed off of her hand and up her arm; into the shape that she wanted it to become.

The shape of a whip.

_"But I'm stuck in this fucking rut, waiting on a second-hand pick-me-up, and I'm over getting older..."_

Alex's face showed complete and utter surprise, and, once again, the water splashed to the ground, and she heard Drake laugh for the very first time.

Not a mean laugh, not a sarcastic laugh, just a normal laugh that Alex had heard come out of her own mouth multiple times; but never Drake's. Before this, she hadn't even been sure that he was even capable of normal laughter.

"You should've seen your face," Drake went on to say, completely oblivious that he had done something to astound Alex. "Does succeeding really surprise you that much?"

"Ha ha, very funny," she said tonelessly, but her eyes were bright. "Let's go again, and maybe soon I'll be Octo-girl to your Octo-boy."

_"If I could just find the time, then I would never let another day go by, I'm over getting old..."_

A half an hour later, the song "Weightless" was on repeat for the fifteenth time, and Drake and Alex were sparring; Drake with his whip-arm, and Alex with her new and improved water whip, which she could now control.

They had figured out how to reinforce the whip from the inside using chips of rock-solid ice, and if it was cut by Drake's whip, it would grow anew if Alex jetted more water inside of it.

_"Maybe it's not my weekend, but it's gonna be my year, and I'm so sick of watching while the minutes pass as I go nowhere... And this is my reaction to everything I fear, 'cause I've been going crazy, I don't wanna waste another minute here..."_

Alex would whip, and Drake would block her attack; both of them were extremely concentrated, so at first they didn't hear Diana as she walked into the room.

"He's back," she said. They didn't hear her. Drake landed a blow, and shouted with glee; Alex retaliated by doubling her efforts.

"Caine is back!" Diana shouted. Both of them immediately whirled around, and Alex's water whip retreated back into her palm. They were both breathing heavily, and Alex had a welt on her left arm where Drake's whip had met skin. "I'm glad that you two are enjoying yourselves, doing whatever you're doing down here, but Caine's back and there's something wrong with him!"

"Let's go," Drake muttered to Alex, then to Diana, "lead the way."

XxXxX

Diana opened the door to the cabin of the Coates Academy groundskeeper, Mose. Mose was long gone, of course, along with all of the other adults, and now this was where Caine stayed.

The person in question was laying on a bed that was in the corner of the room, covered in sheets. His breathing was heavy, and he was muttering in his sleep.

_"Hungry... Hungry in the dark..."_

Diana dismissed this.

"That's all he's been saying." She turned to face Drake and Alex. "He came back a little less then two hours ago, looking like he's seen a ghost."

_It's a little worse then that, _Drake thought shrewdly. _Okay, so it's a lot worse._

"I got him to eat something, and drink some water, before he lapsed back into _that_," Diana said, sounding slightly worried. "He looked dehydrated. And the food's going to run out, really soon, and really fast." She turned her dark gaze directly onto Drake, who stared back, looking bored.

"What do you want _me _to do about it?"

"They have _food_ down in Perdido Beach, don't they, Drake?" she asked, her tone going from worried to malicious in a heartbeat. "I think it's time to do what you do best." He sneered at her, and turned to face Alex.

"Well? Are you with me?"

"What?" she said, confused.

"Are you with me?" he asked again. "Part of my team? One of my soldiers?"

"We haven't been training for three days for nothing," she replied, realizing that Diana was glaring at her from behind Drake. He nodded confidently.

"It's time to plan a raid."

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**What did you think? REVIEW! :)**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	6. Ghostride The Whip

**Okay, so I have a story to tell about the song I used for this chapter. Well, I've been writing this story in my notebook, and this chapter has been written for quite a while, but YESTERDAY, I went to a Family Force 5 concert.... AND THEY PLAYED THIS SONG! :D I almost died. So if you're the type of person that listens to the song while reading (and if you are, you rock), then just remember that I heard this song in concert yesterday! XD **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own 'Gone', or "Ghostride The Whip" by Family Force 5!**

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**Chapter Six: Ghostride The Whip**

The next day, Alex sat, once again, at the long table in the dining hall with Drake and eleven other "soldiers", who were mostly twelve to fourteen-year-olds with minimal training in wielding a gun.

"So, we're raiding Perdido Beach?" Alex Barrino, a tall, dark-haired boy, asked.

"That's the plan," Drake said grimly as he walked to the front of the room and faced them. "The townies probably won't have anyone guarding the grocery store... I forget the name."

"Ralph's," the other Alex supplied. Drake nodded.

"But there's probably going to be people around, even late at night," he continued, "so we're going to need some sort of distraction. Alex, that's where you come in." Both Alexes looked questioningly at Drake, but the girl Alex had a sinking feeling that he was talking about her. Drake confirmed her suspicions by pointing straight at her.

"I'm not going to be used as a distraction," she said hotly as she stood up. "I can fight and sneak and raid just as well as any of _you_!"

"Sam and his people have seen all of us before," Drake said quickly. "And he'd recognize _me _in a heartbeat." Alex sat back down, still seething with indignation. Then, she stood up once more.

"If I'm going to be the distraction," she said with the air of holding something over their heads, "then I'll need a partner."

"I already told you." Drake sounded exasperated. "Sam has seen all of us Coates kids before, and--"

"Have you ever heard of _disguises_, Drake Merwin?" she asked slyly, cutting him off.

"Fine," Drake sighed. "Who do you need to help you?"

"You, of course."

XxXxX

"No!" Drake yelled, storming away yet again. Alex followed, ever persistent. "Why can't you use Alex Barrino, or Jules Teffner, or even Lark Penn?" He named three of the soldiers.

"Because," Alex replied, "distractions have to be quick; they can't carry anything that might slow them down. In this case, guns." Drake made a protesting sound, and she shot him a withering look. "We both have weapons that can be hidden; my water and your whip-arm. And if we're exposed, we can display a bit of duel-whip action and get out of there, hopefully with food." Drake seemed to ponder that for a minute.

"I don't want to be a distraction," he said finally, and sighed heavily. "But you _do _need a partner, and I _am _the most qualified person for the job..." He sighed again. "I'm going to hate myself for this, but Alex Lucine, you have yourself a partner."

XxXxX

Alex reported to the outside target at exactly nine A.M., just as Drake had told them to do the previous night, iPod and speakers in hand again. But when Drake saw the electronics this time, he grinned instead of scowled.

They had found out that it was kind of therapeutic to spar while listening to music.

"Now," Drake said loudly, walking among the soldiers. "You each have one gun and a box of bullets and ammo. I do _not _want to see that wasted. I taught you all to shoot, I want to see that bulls-eye hit every. Single. Time." He punctuated each word with cracks from his whip. None of the soldiers jumped or even flinched at the sound, and Drake smirked, satisfied.

"Start."

Alex pressed the 'play' icon on her iPod as the others began shooting, and stepped back, letting the water flow into its whip form. Drake began circling her, looking for an opening, and she did the same.

"Are you ready for this, Lucine?"

"More ready then you'll ever be, Merwin." They used last names because it was kind of a custom they had started during their first sparring sessions. Drake had said that using first names was far too personal while you were attempting to hurt them.

_"It's ghostriders, yeah, yeah, it's ghostriders, yeah... Oooh, oh... I'm ghostridin' yeah I'm buckwildin', move out the way 'cause there ain't nobody drivin'... Ghostride the whip, yeah I'm dancin' on the hood, ghostride the whip, shawty knows I'm lookin' good..."_

Their respective whips slashed and tore at the air; more then one boy turned from aiming at their targets to watch.

"Eyes on your guns!" Drake bellowed, and whacked the nearest boy with his whip on the backswing, and Alex was pretty sure that it wasn't an accident.

_"I'm ghostridin', I whip it straight out and stun like a G, 'cause there ain't no way to hide it... Ghostride the whip, gonna take it on a stroll, ghostride the whip, walkin', walkin' walk and roll..."_

It was not a fair fight, Alex knew that. Drake was stronger with more experience, and Alex also knew that he could tear her apart in a second if he chose. But she needed practice, he needed practice, so there they were.

_"If you trippin' on yourself, you'll be chasin' that whip, don't do it like that shawty, do it like this; you'll get yourself killed if you don't do it right, throw it down into coast to step to the side... Watch it roll on, watch me campaign, ghostride around the world, yeah I make my own lanes; droppin' right in on a one-ton wave, yeah I'm surfin' on the hood of my Chevrolet..."_

Drake's whip grazed the side of her head, and she hissed with pain.

"Watch it, Merwin!" she yelled indignantly. Drake sniggered and Alex growled, striking back with more force.

"You'll never get me, Lucine!" Drake said, laughing out loud as he blocked every single one of his attacks.

_"Ride low, first-class, nobody sittin' 'hind my dash, don't drive too fast, you ain't showin' out unless you got whiplash... Watch out, I hear the 5-0, ghost bustas, here come the po-po, you think you can catch this but I know that you won't, like Houdini, you see me now you don't..."_

Alex, fueled by Drake's taunts, attempted to try something that she had thought about but never actually tested. She made the whip retreat quickly back into her right palm, but then shot it out of her left palm at lightning speed. Drake, not prepared for this turn of events, was a little too slow to react, and it was _her _whip that met _his _flesh this time.

"Nice move, Lucine," he said grudgingly. She beamed, and battle commenced again.

_"Uh oh, uh oh, where they at, where they go? Uh oh, uh oh, dissapearin' like a ghost, kick back on the windsheild, feelin' so nice, this is how we do it, ghostride..."_

They took a break, Alex sat under a tree near the school, and Drake was watching the other soldiers shoot.

"That's good, Marshal, that's really good..."

"Watch out for the kick, Lark, don't me such a wuss. Do it again."

"You're a little to the left of the bulls-eye, Michael, but I find that it helps if you pretend that the bulls-eye is someone's head. Someone that you hate, of course. Try Sam Temple; that always works for me."

Alex found herself watching Drake with something close to admiration. He gave good advice in a way that these kids would listen to it. After Drake talked with him, Michael Forrester never missed another bulls-eye.

_He's mean, _Alex thought. _He's mean, obnoxious, condescending, and a little weird, but I think that there's good in him somewhere. He may not know it, everyone else may not know it, but I can see something, I think. Somewhere in that dark pit that Drake Merwin calls a heart, there's something._

XxXxX

"Here's how we're gonna do this."

They were back in the dining hall, all looking at Drake, who was pointing at a map of Perdido Beach. How he acquired _that_, Alex didn't care to know.

"We drive into Perdido Beach, and if there's nobody around, then we leave the car and _you_ eleven-" he pointed at most of the soldiers; Alex Barrino, Michael Forrester, Lark Penn, Mas McCourtney, Jules Teffner, Oliver Harban, Louis Wolfert, Perry Dennis "P.D." Smith, Marshal Kimber, Johnny "Sparks" Davis, and Vincent Delduco- "go into Ralph's and get as much food as you can. Meanwhile, if necessary, me and Alex'll go create a distraction."

"What kind of distraction?" Mas McCourtey asked.

"I believe this is where the phrase "making it up as we go" comes into play," Drake said, grinning a shark's grin. "Meet me in the parking lot at twelve tonight. Perdido Beach, prepare to be raided."

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**Well, there it is. The next chapter is one of my favorites.... Ooh, I like it. So yeah, hurry up and review so I can post the next one! :D**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	7. Say Hey, I Love You

**So this is one of my favorite chapters... :) I hope you guys like it too!**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own Alex and my other OC's... Everything else is Michael Grant's! (And I also don't own "Say Hey (I Love You)" by Micheal Franti)...**

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**Chapter Seven: Say Hey (I Love You)**

It was almost pitch-black; the only light came from the headlights of the two SUV's in the parking lot. Alex Barrino was in the driver's seat of one, and Drake was in the passenger's. He shot Alex a whithering look as she slid into the only remaining seat.

"You're late."

The clock read **12:02**.

"By two minutes," Alex protested. "And--"

"Did you wear something distracting?" Drake asked, cutting her off. Earlier that night, he had cornered her and demanded that she dress the part, so she complied.

She opened the front of the long, black trenchcoat she was wearing to reveal a slinky purple dress; tight to the waist and flowing to her knees, with a slit up the side. It looked like the kind of dress you'd find on a dancer.

Alex Barrino whistled from the driver's seat. Alex raised her eyebrows and smirked slightly.

"Distraction enough for you, Drake?" He looked at her condescendingly and turned around without a word. Alex's smirk got wider.

"Everybody ready?" Barrino practically yelled. Before anyone could answer, however he said, "good! Perdido Beach, here we come!" The SUV roared to life.

XxXxX

Alex climbed, shaken, from the SUV. Barrino was a good kid, but a horrible driver; and he had a tendency to swerve. Drake opened the front door and got out, his eyes wide.

"That's it, Barrino, I'm driving home." The person in question came around the side of the SUV, grinning like a maniac. Drake glared at him.

They were on the outskirts of Perdido Beach; they didn't dare venture any further. They saw lights near the center of the town, and bodies milling and music pumping.

"Maybe we won't need a distraction after all," Drake muttered to himself.

"So I wore this thing for nothing?" Alex said indignantly, swishing the skirt of her dress with her hands. Drake, startled, looked at her suddenly.

"No... No... We'll probably still need one," he said absentmindedly as they reached Ralph's. The grocery store was dark; nobody was there. The group split, Alex Barrino and the rest of the soldiers went around to the back of Ralph's, Drake and Alex headed toward the center of town.

"Here," Alex said quietly as she handed Drake a bundle of cloth. He took it, a questioning look on his face. "It's your disguise," she explained, and grabbed it from him and shook it out. "See, it's a sweatshirt, but I sewed a fake hand that I found in the drama room back at Coates onto one arm. I stuffed four of the fingers, except for the middle one, so that's where you put the end of your whip."

He shrugged the sweatshirt on, and there stood pre-tentacle Drake Merwin. But he was still completely and utterly Drake, so Alex set out to remedy that.

"Put this on," she said hastily, shoving a black wig at him. She helped him stuff all of his sandy blond hair under the wig, and then he was Drake with short, spiky black hair. "And I took these from some girl's room." And he was suddenly Drake Merwin with brown colored eyes, courtesy of "some girl's" color contacts. Alex then tok out dark colored powder foundation, and brushed it all over his face, neck, and hands.

So, in the end, it was a tentacle-less, black-haired, brown eyed, tanned Drake Merwin who stood in front of Alex Lucine, and she smiled.

"I can't even tell who you are," she said, still smiling. His face suddenly broke into a grin. "And if you do _that_, then it'll make the act even more convincing." The grin turned into a scowl, and she laughed.

"If anyone asks, what's my name again?"

"You're Rick Mellino," she replied. "And we can use my name, as I don't think anyone'll remember me. All right, let's go be distracting."

XxXxX

"What _is _this?" Alex whispered as they weaved their way through the bodies dancing and singing to the blasting music. The speakers were pumping out an old pop tune, and boys and girls of all ages were dancing together.

"_This _happens to be Perdido Beach's very own Midnight Friday Dance Party," a chubby kid said suddenly, appearing in front of Alex. He looked to be about thirteen. "Dance with me, baby?"

Drake shouldered his way through the crowd to stand beside Alex. "She's with me." Even when he was Rick Mellino, he was still menacing. The kid was gone in a heartbeat.

"Thanks, Knight in Shining Armor," she said sarcastically, but when he looked at her angrily, she grinned. "Really, thanks."

"Anytime."

"Hey, all you party people," a Hispanic kid suddenly yelled into a microphone from his place standing on one of the speakers. "The MFDP is now over, but make sure you stop at Ralph's grocery on your way home for some tasty treats! This has been Edilio Escobar, telling you to be here next week, and to always remember that it's just a FAYZ!" The assembled kids gave Edilio a rousing cheer, and he jumped off the speaker. The crowd began to disperse, and Drake and Alex shared a panicked look.

"He said to stop at _Ralph's_, didn't he?"

"Yup."

"We are so screwed."

"We aren't screwed yet, we're not," Alex said firmly. Ignoring the look Drake was giving her, she marched up to Edilio, grabbed his microphone, and spoke into it loudly. "Excuse me, excuse me." Most of the kids turned around and walked back to the speakers, the ones that didn't were dragged back by older siblings or peers. "Ralph's is not yet open, the store is experiencing some, er, _technical difficulties_..." She noticed that Edilio had given her a very odd look, but she plowed on.

"So, as we're waiting here, my friend Rick and I would like to perform something for you."

"Who are you?" a kid in the crowd shouted.

"My name's Alex, and Rick and I are new to Perdido Beach," she replied, looking over the crowd. She saw Sam Temple join the group near the edge, along with Quinn Gaither, a surfer dude, and a smart girl who she remembered was called Astrid.

"Well, where is this Rick dude, anyway?" the same obnoxious kid yelled. Alex located Drake in the crowd, and motioned for him to come stand with her in the middle of the crowd. He hesitated, and she knew he was feeling unconfident in his disguise. She sent him a little half-smile of which he didn't return.

After Drake had slouched up to stand next to her, they both stood awkwardly, shoulders touching, staring out into the crowd.

"Well, _do _something!" Alex glared at the kid, and then realized he was right. They needed to actually _be _distracting, or else the crowd was going to go somewhere else, and eventually someone would figure out that Ralph's wasn't having any "technical difficulties" whatsoever.

She threw off the trenchcoat, revealing the purple dress, and heard at least one whistle.

"Are you _dancing_?"

_Thank God for that obnoxious kid, _Alex thought, and said out loud; "yes, of course!" and kicked off her sneakers and socks. Drake shot her a look.

"Cue music!" she yelled. Edilio didn't miss a beat. He cranked up the volume, and thankfully the song was one Alex knew. "You know this song?" she muttered to Drake.

"Never heard it in my life."

"Follow my lead, then."

_"This one goes out to you and yours, worldwide!" _Drake grabbed her hand and spun her; her skirt twirled and she heard scattered applause. _"I say hey, I be gone today, but I be back around the way, seems like everywhere I go, the more I see the less I know..."_

They began dancing, their two hands together, his other "hand" on her hip, and her other hand on his shoulder. She was leading, but she tried not to make that too obvious.

_"But I know, one thing, that I love you..."_

He dipped her, then quickly lifted her back up, so that her hair went flying.

_"I love you, I love you, I love you..."_

She cought a glimpse of other couples as they began dancing, but most of the people kept their eyes glued onto her and "Rick".

_"I've been a lot of places all around the way, I've seen a lot of joy and I've seen a lot of pain, but I don't want to write a love song for the world, I just want to write a song for a boy and a girl..."_

"I think it's working," Alex muttered to Drake as he spun her again.

"It better be," he whispered back. "I don't usually dance for the general public."

_"Junkies on the corner always calling my name, and the kids on the corner playing ghetto games, when I saw you getting down girl I hoped it was you, and when I looked into your eyes, I knew it was true..."_

Drake spun Alex yet again, but this time let go of her hand. She spun into the waiting arms of another boy, and Drake began dancing with another girl, making sure to keep his right "hand" on her waist.

_"I say hey, I be gone today, but I be back around the way, seems like everywhere I go, the more I see the less I know, but I know, one thing, I love you..."_

Drake and Alex eventually made it back to dancing with each other in the center of the circle.

_"I love you, I love you, I love you..."_

"Well, that was fun," Alex said, breathing heavily.

"Let's never do that again," Drake said darkly. "We stay together. I was too afraid that people would begin to notice that only one of my right-hand fingers has the ability to move." She laughed. "It's not funny!"

_"Now I'm not a highly metaphysical man, but I know when the stars are aligned you can, bump into a person in the middle of the road, look into their eyes and you suddenly know... Rocking in the dance hall, moving with you, dancing in the night or in the middle of June, my momma told me don't lose you, 'cause the best luck I had was you..." _

Alex once again scanned the crowd, and she noticed that Sam and Astrid had begun to dance together.

_I never would've expected _that_ pairing, _she thought.

_"I say hey, I be gone today, but I be back around the way, seems like everywhere I go, the more I see the less I know, but I know one thing, I love you... I love you, I love you, I love you..."_

Less and less people were watching, and more and more people were dancing together.

"We have to get their attention back on us," Alex whispered to Drake. He just nodded.

_"I said, rocking in the dance hall, moving with you, I say, hey momma, hey momma, close to you..."_

Drake, without any warning, picked her up by the waist and spun her around. She barely suppressed a scream, and let out a sigh of relief when her feet were back on the ground.

"What was _that_?" she hissed as they began dancing again.

"Distraction," he replied, smirking. She _did _notice that more people were watching them.

_"Rocking in the dance hall, moving with you, I say hey papa, hey papa, close to you..."_

The chorus played one more time, Drake dipped her again, and as he lifted her up, the crowd started clapping. Then, he leaned down and planted a swift but firm kiss on her closed lips.

"What was that for?" she whispered as they waved to the crowd.

"I'm Rick, remember?" he answered. "And Rick usually kisses girls after dancing with them. It's all part of the show." She rolled her eyes, looking out over the crowd again.

"Hey, that kid Edilio isn't here anymore," she muttered. Drake looked at her questioningly. "Neither is Sam, or that Quinn guy..." Drake's eyes widened and she realized a second too late that something was wrong.

"We have to get out of here," he said loudly.

At that moment, a tall figure pushed through the assembled group, shouting--

"Ralph's was raided! Ralph's was raided!"

It was Sam, Quinn and Edilio behind him. He stopped in front of Alex and Drake, his eyebrows furrowed.

"You said you were at Ralph's. Did you see anything unusual?"

Alex suddenly felt extremely warm and under pressure; she saw Drake wipe his left arm across his forehead.

The makeup smeared.

Sam rounded on him, realizing who he was. Drake knew it, too, and Alex heard the sound of straining fabric before Drake's "hand" ripped apart and the whip burst out of it.

It was complete and utter pandemonium. People tried to run _at _Drake, people tried to run a_way _from Drake, kids were screaming, kids were crying, and in all of this, Alex saw Quinn take a gun from inside of his jacket.

He wasted no time in aiming and pulling the trigger. There was a deafening _bang_, and Drake screamed, a bone-chilling, unearthly sound that tore at Alex's heart. She bent and caught his limp body before it hit the ground.

Then, multiple things happened at once. Sam stepped over Alex, who was kneeling on the pavement, holding the prostrate form of Drake, and raised his hands, palm-out; Quinn was lifted on the shoulders of the cheering crowd; and two SUV's roared into the square.

People jumped aside to avoid the swerving cars, and Sam had to leap out of the way to avoid getting run over. Alex Barrino jumped out of the driver's seat of the first SUV, and lifted Drake in a fireman's carry. He reclined the passenger's seat all of the way, and laid him there. Alex threw herself in the driver's seat, narrowly avoiding an oncoming Sam, and floored it.

The two SUV's practically flew out of Perdido Beach, thankfully without pursuit. Alex forced herself to look at Drake.

Barrino had tied a strip of cloth torn from his shirt around the wound, which went through his shoulder, narrowly missing his heart and his neck.

"I'm no doctor," she heard Barrino say, "but he's not bleeding from his back. The bullet might be lodged in there somewhere."

Alex looked at Drake again. He was getting paler by the minute, and the cloth Barrino was pressing on his shoulder was already drenched in crimson blood.

"Don't die on me, Merwin," she whispered, clenching the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "I won't let you die."

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**Wow, longest chapter! Yess! Anyway, we got a little action going in there! I really liked writing this chapter, while I was reading 'Hunger' I always wanted to know what happened when Drake raided Perdido Beach... So, here it is! The Hyperactive Lioness version, anyway. **

**I hoped you guys liked it, and thanks so much for staying loyal to the story!**

**Review! XD**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	8. Never Surrender

**Hello all of you faithful readers! This is chapter eight of "THE SHARPEST LIVES"! :D**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, or Skillet, or "Never Surrender"... Wow, I don't own a LOT.**

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**Chapter Eight: Never Surrender**

Diana met them all at the entrance to Coates. Alex didn't ask her why she waited up for them, when it was at least almost two o'clock in the morning. Her mouth dropped open when she caught sight of Drake, and she was temporarily speechless.

"What happened to _him_?" she asked after a few seconds.

"That Quinn guy shot him right before he was going to fight Sam off," Alex replied. "I know nothing about treating wounds; do you know anything that can help him?" Diana bit her lip.

"He looks pretty bad," she said. "Let's get him inside, so we can look at it closer." Alex Barrino once again lifted Drake's limp body, and they walked towards Coates.

"Hey," Alex said suddenly, turning to the kid on her left, remembering the actual reason why they had gone to Perdido Beach, "did you guys get any food?"

"We did," Mas McCourtney said proudly. "We filled the entire back seats of the second SUV before Sam and his guys showed up. Sam and the other two left, to warn the rest, I guess, and left about four kids to deal with us. We only had to show them our guns and they were off running."

"Good, we have more food, then," Diana said, sounding relieved. "The rest of us were getting kind of worried."

They reached the double-doors that were the entrance to Coates, and Mas heaved them open. They put Drake in the first room that they saw, which was fortunately unoccupied.

Diana pulled the sweatshirt off of him, and tore his shirt where the wound was. It was an ugly, blood-covered hole in his shoulder, and Diana squinted at it.

"The bullet is definitely in there," she muttered. "I see it, but just slightly. It must've not been going that fast; Quinn must have had a crappy gun."

"What can we do?" Alex asked anxiously. Diana turned to her, a grave look on her pretty face.

"I have no idea," she replied. "Even if we _do _get the bullet out, he'll probably bleed to death, or his arm'll get diseased. The only one that I could think of to actually help is the healer, Lana. But she'll never do it... She's with Sam."

"Where does she live?"

"Last time I heard, she was living by herself in the Clifftop Resort. Why?"

"I'm going to get her," Alex said firmly. "We aren't losing Drake without a fight." She stomped out of the room, and Diana watched her go with something close to a smirk playing around her lips.

XxXxX

Alex drove by herself fifteen minutes later down the deserted road to Clifftop Resort. From what she understood, Lana was kind of a loner, and nobody else lived at Clifftop. And as Lana was a healer, she had no defensive powers whatsoever.

So it was a grim and determined Alex who first passed the girl jogging on the side of a road along with a shaggy dog. She stopped the car, turned around in her seat, and gazed at the girl, first wondering-

_Who in their right mind jogs at two thirty in the morning?_

And then thinking that she should probably go after her, as she might be the mysterious Lana.

Making up her mind, Alex put the car in drive, made a U-turn, and sped after the girl. It only took a few seconds to pull level with her. The girl looked over, paused her iPod, and pulled the earbuds out of her ears.

"Are you Lana?" Alex asked after rolling down the passenger window. The girl came over to the car.

"Why? Need something healed?"

"In a way," Alex replied. "One of my friends was shot recently. About an hour ago, in fact." Lana's eyebrows furrowed, and she knew the other girl was putting two and two together.

"Quinn said that he shot Drake after Ralph's was raided..." she said, half to herself and half to Alex. "And there was a girl with him... No. I am _not _healing Drake Merwin again."

Alex dismissed the "again" and said, "you'd better come with me, or else", in her best menacing voice. She hefted the gun she had borrowed from Mas McCourtney. "I don't think I need to elaborate on the "or else"." Lana looked at her disbelievingly.

"You're threatening me?"

Alex nodded. Lana glared at her, and got into the car's passenger seat. Alex smiled grimly and stepped on the gas.

XxXxX

"So why do you want me to heal him, anyway?" Lana asked after about five minutes of driving in silence. "And don't worry about the whole 'kidnap and threaten me' thing, people are always kind of desperate about healings. I had a ten year old flying-tackle me yesterday because he had pinkeye and was convinced that the world was ending." Alex forced a laugh.

"If the FAYZ isn't the world ending, I don't know what is." Lana nodded, agreeing.

"But back to the original question," she said seriously, staring at Alex, "why do you care so much about what happens to Drake? He's not exactly the nicest boy I've ever met."

"And that means we should let him suffer and eventually die?" Alex replied angrily, suddenly mad at the girl sitting next to her.

"He would've let the same happen to others," Lana said quietly, and Alex remembered that Drake had a past that was haunting him, just as her past could come back and haunt her.

XxXxX

Alex burst through the door of the room where they had put Drake, and found that it was empty except for Drake's too-still body on the bed, and Alex Barrino sitting on a stool next to him.

"I have no idea how I was appointed "nurse"," he grumbled as he took a blood-drenched towel off of Drake's shoulder and replaced it with a new one. "But I _do _know that he's losing a lot of blood. If you could do something about that, that would be great." He gave a respectful nod in Lana's direction.

"Okay, Barrino, you can leave now," Alex said. "Thanks for all you've done here." He smiled at her, then left quickly. "All right, Lana, you're the master here. What do we do?" Lana was inspecting the wound, and she grimaced.

"We have to get this bullet out before I can heal it," she said grimly. "I'll have to make a cut further into his shoulder, and then I can pull the bullet out. Any painkillers at all would be much appreciated." Almost on cue, Barrino burst through the door and shoved boxes of medicine into Alex's arms, then ran from the room.

"Painkillers," Alex held up her arms, grinning. Lana grabbed them from her.

"Go get a bucket of water and a lot of towels," she instructed hurriedly. Alex rushed to comply, and when she returned; "okay, we're as ready as we're gonna get."

They positioned themselves, Lana on Drake's injured side, Alex on the other.

Lana breathed out heavily. "He'll probably stay unconscious throughout this whole procedure, thanks to the painkillers, but he'll still feel a lot of this. Your job is to hold him down; make sure he doesn't thrash too much. And calm him down as much as you can, talk or something, music might help, y'know, get into his subconscious..." Alex smiled shakily.

"Well, I _can _sing..."

"Then do it," Lana said darkly, and gripped the handle of the knife. Alex took a deep breath as Lana began to cut into Drake's shoulder.

_"Do you know what it's like when," _she sang quietly, closing her eyes and holding his chest down firmly, _"you're scared to see yourself, do you know what it's like when you wish you were someone else, who didn't need your help to get by, do you know what it's like to want to surrender..."_

She heard Lana's labored breathing, and felt Drake's chest contract.

"How's it going?" she forced herself to ask.

"I don't know," came Lana's clipped reply. "Keep singing. It gives me something else to think about then the fact that I'm cutting into someone's arm."

_"I don't want to feel like this tomorrow, I don't want to feel like this today, make me feel better, I want to feel better, stay with me here now, and never surrender..."_

Alex wasn't sure why her subconscious had picked that song. It reminded her of dark things in her past, dark things that she had buried and would prefer that they stay that way.

She mentally shook herself, saying, _this time isn't about you, it's about trying to save the life of someone you care about, so quit thinking about your past and focus on the present, and sing the rest of the song, dang it!_

_"Do you know what it's like when you're not who you want to be," _Alex sang obediently. _"Do you know what it's like to be your own worst enemy, who sees the things in me I can't hide, do you know what it's like to want to surrender..."_

Drake's body was beginning to convulse, and Alex could hear Lana grunting with effort on the other side of the bed.

"The bullet's almost out," she practically shouted. Alex repeated the chorus, eyes still firmly shut, and then...

Her eyes flew open as she heard Drake scream. Lana swore under her breath.

"He's awake. You have to hold him down, Alex, _harder_. I'll try to make this as quick as possible." Alex tried not to look at the bloody mess of Drake's shoulder as she put one hand on his chest and the other on his left shoulder and pushed him down, using all of her body weight.

His grey eyes were on his other shoulder, and he was panting heavily.

"I don't want to lose my arm," he said, almost normally. "Alex, I don't want to lose my arm."

"Don't worry," Alex said, and he swung his head to look at her. His eyes were wild. "Lana'll heal it, she just has to get the bullet out first." A racking sob heaved through his body.

"I don't want to lose my arm."

"You won't," Alex said firmly, and then sang, _"make me feel better, you make me feel better, you make me feel better, put me back together!"_

Lana made a violent movement, and Drake screamed again, louder. Oddly, the other girl was smiling.

"I got it," she said, holding up the metal piece. "Now the real fun begins." She plunged her hands into the blood flowing out of Drake's shoulder.

_"I don't want to feel like this tomorrow, I don't want to live like this today, make me feel better, I need to feel better, stay with me here, now, and never surrender... Put me back together... Never surrender..."_

Drake's breathing eventually returned to normal as Lana slowly but surely healed his arm. He laid his head back on the pillow, exhausted. Alex felt almost as tired as he looked.

_"Make me feel better, you make me feel better, stay with me here, now, and never surrender..."_

Alex looked up at Lana, just as the other girl looked up from Drake's arm. There was no bullet hole; it looked like Quinn had never raised his gun. Lana smiled a relieved smile.

"I can't believe that that honestly worked."

Alex skirted the bed and threw her arms around the other girl's neck.

"Thank you so much, Lana."

The healer laughed softly. "Whatever happened to hefting a gun and ordering me to get in the car with you?"

"Well, you know..." Alex sounded sheepish. "I was kind of desperate." Lana laughed again.

"You people never learn to just _ask _for a healing. I'll help _anyone_. I can't stand to see people suffer."

"Well, you're free to go, now."

"Thanks," Lana said, washing her bloody hands in a sink. "I'd love to stick around, but I probably should get back to Hilltop to feed Patrick; he must be going crazy worrying about me." She walked out of the door, closing it softly behind her. Alex looked back at Drake, at his healed arm, and marveled at how close he came to death.

"Somebody must be watching out for you, Drake Merwin," she whispered, then she too left the room.

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**YAY! :D**

**The next chapter tells a little bit more about Alex's past, so stay tuned!**

**REVIEW!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	9. Fireflies

**Hey everyone! I'd just like to start out this chapter by saying that it's not going to have much action in it... And no Drake, sadly. But you get to see some of Alex's past, and she also has an, um, "conversation" with our very own Diana Ladris. So, enjoy chapter nine! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, or "Fireflies" by Owl City...**

**DEDICATION: This chapter is dedicated to my besties, edwestwicker, IamCharlie and Alyssa, who doesn't have a fanfiction account! We shall always be DDC! (And L...) Love you guys!**

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**Chapter Nine: Fireflies**

Alex walked down the hall towards her room, rubbing her eyes. All she wanted to do was fall asleep. So much had happened since midnight when they had begun the raid, and it was only four in the morning.

She practically ran into her bedroom and catapulted herself onto her bed, only pausing to kick off her shoes.

Then she saw it; a pinprick of light just outside of her window. That was all it took, she suddenly felt wide awake. Sliding out of bed, she padded over to the window and wrenched it open.

The light was only one of those attached to the roof of Coates, but the funny thing was, if Alex wanted, she could climb out of her window and onto the roof.

So she did.

She climbed the roof until she was at the very top, and sat down. The moon was low in the sky; everything was quiet and majestic and _beautiful_. She felt like the only one awake in the world.

_"You would not believe your eyes," _Alex sang quietly to herself, _"if ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep... 'Cause they fill the open air, and leave teardrops everywhere, you'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare..."_

This was one of her favorite songs by one of her favorite bands; "Fireflies" by Owl City. It always reminded her of the best times in her life, which was basically before she and her dad moved to Perdido Beach.

_"I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly, it's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep, 'cause everything is never as it seems..."_

Back in Washington, where Alex lived in an apartment with her dad and his then-girlfriend, Janice, life hadn't exactly been good, but it wasn't necessarily bad either. Alex's dad hadn't abused her then, he didn't want Janice to know. And Alex had found a friend at school, a scruffy, mop-top skater dude named Branson.

_"'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs from ten-thousand lightning bugs, as they try to teach me how to dance..."_

Later, another girl joined their group, a poised, long-haired, brunette ballerina named Cadia. They had joked about their names, calling themselves "ABC".

Then, the _Incident _had happened. Janice almost immediately broke up with Alex's dad, and he had moved the both of them to Perdido Beach.

_"A fox-trot above my head, a sock hop beneath my bed, a disco ball is just hanging by a thread..."_

Alex didn't like to think about what had happened then. All she knew was that her old life was over; she didn't have Branson and Cadia to lean on anymore. Her new life was in Perdido Beach, with her dad, their tiny house near the ocean, and her distrusting, unfriendly new school. And she thought herself foolish for even believing for a second that her dad was finished abusing her for good.

_"I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly, it's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep, 'cause everything is never as it seems, when I fall asleep..."_

And then the FAYZ had happened, leaving her parentless and pretty much alone in the world. And she had liked that.

But then a new set of people had intruded, uninvited, into her life.

_"Leave my door open just a crack (please take me away from here), 'cause I feel like such an insomniac (please take me away from here), why do I tire of counting sheep (please take me away from here), when I'm too tired to fall asleep?"_

Alex Lucine was now mixed up in the world of Caine, Drake, Diana. And she wasn't sure if she liked it or not, yet. But for now, their problems? Her problems. Their triumphs? Her triumphs. And their pain was her pain.

_"To ten-million fireflies, I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes, I got misty eyes as they said farewell... But I'll know where several are, if my dreams get real bizarre, 'cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar..."_

She was just singing the chorus again when when she sensed somebody behind her, and heard soft footsteps on the roof. She whipped around, but it was only Diana, who then sat next to her.

"Hey, Alex," she said by way of greeting. "I was looking for you. I heard Lana saved him." Alex didn't need any clarification on who "he" was.

"Yeah, her power's pretty awesome, huh?"

"It's different," Diana shrugged. "She and I have passive powers; healing, reading. While aggressive powers, you, Caine, Sam... Water, telekinesis, light, they're more geared towards fighting." Alex nodded, secretly wondering what Diana _really _wanted to talk to her about.

"Anyway," Diana went on, "congratulations on saving Drake. I'm pretty sure that if you hadn't gotten Lana, he would've died." Alex nodded again.

_When is she going to get to what she actually wants to say?_

"You really like him, don't you?"

Alex almost laughed out loud. So _this _was it? She had thought for a second that Diana was going to say something important.

"We're friends, I think," she replied. "Can you ever really tell with Drake? And I kind of felt responsible when he got injured, you know? He was supposed to be at Ralph's but he was dancing with me in the square..." A faint redness colored her cheeks as she remembered that, along with the kiss from "Rick".

"Dancing?" Diana's harsh voice said. Alex nodded, and swished the skirt of her purple dress, which she had just realized she was still wearing.

"It was all in the name of distraction, of course." Diana looked at her skeptically. "Honestly. Drake and I are just friends, if that." Diana said nothing. Alex was silent also, just looking at the stars.

"He's not exactly one I would be proud to count among my friends," Diana said suddenly.

"Well, he doesn't seem to like you very much, to tell you the truth," Alex retaliated, suddenly feeling slightly angry at the black-haired girl sitting next to her.

"For not liking him, you sure got defensive really fast," Diana said, smirking. Alex fumed.

"I never said that I don't _like_ him, I just don't _like, like_ him," Alex said angrily. "Don't twist the things I say!"

"When I first met you, Alex," Diana's voice was quiet, suddenly serious, "I liked you. You were tough, cool, and you kind of reminded me of myself." Alex scoffed silently. "When you first said that you wanted to come with us to Coates, I wanted to tell you everything, to make you stay at that cabin. I was certain that if you knew, you'd order us away and never think about us again, and that's what I wanted. Nobody else has to be stuck in this mess except for Caine, Drake, and myself. Nobody else deserves it."

"Well, are you going to tell me what's the matter?"

"Of course not!"

"Tell me, Diana. I'm serious." The other girl took a deep breath.

"It's called plastering," she said, her voice heavy. "It's when you take a freak's hands and stick them in a block of wet concrete. The concrete hardens, and..." Alex's eyes widened.

"They can't use their powers."

"Exactly. And guess who carried out this torture?"

"Drake," Alex whispered. Diana looked at her, and Alex could clearly see the fury in the other girl's eyes.

"He's a monster. A psychopath. He _enjoys _hurting people, Alex. He's plastered freaks, threatened little kids, and shot those guns he loves so much to _kill_. He has no heart, and I can't stand him, and neither should you."

"Don't tell me who I should and shouldn't hate, Diana!" Alex said loudly. "I'd like to talk to _Drake_ about this, not hear it from some secondhand source!"

"What's there to _talk _about?" Diana almost shrieked. "He stuck people's hands in cement blocks, people like US!"

"And where were you and Caine in the middle of all of this?" Alex challenged. "Certainly not stopping him, although Caine could've. I'd say you two were _watching happily from the sidelines, _or maybe even getting your hands dirty, literally, and _helping_." She hissed the last word, and stood up. By the faint light she could see that the other girl had turned pale.

"You can't pin this on Caine and I," Diana said angrily. "Drake was the one---"

"You ALL are to blame!" Alex yelled. "It doesn't matter who did or didn't do what, all three of you have done SOMETHING!"

"And you're still going to act friendly towards him?" Diana asked in an accusatory tone. "Even after all I just told you about him? About what's wrong in his head?"

"We all have some measure of insanity," Alex said tiredly, remembering how exhausted she was. "It's when we let that insanity take over, then something's wrong." Diana glared daggers at her.

"I tried to help you. I told you what Drake Merwin really is. I warned you about him. If you don't take my advice and stop interacting with him, you're going to get hurt. That's what happens to people who hang around monsters." Alex's mouth fell open at the hateful way that these words were spoken.

"Why didn't you stop me from capturing Lana?" she said in a whisper. "Why didn't you just let him lie there and bleed to death? Why didn't you go and steal the painkillers before we had a chance to use them? Why don't you go down there and just KILL HIM NOW, BECAUSE IT WOULD DO THE WORLD SOME GOOD?" Diana took a step back, looking warily at Alex's flashing eyes.

"Fine," Diana said, attempting to sound nonchalant. "Keep on doing whatever it is you're doing. "Befriend" Drake Merwin. "Change" him. Whatever. It's your funeral." She turned briskly and walked across the rooftop, before she turned a corner and was out of sight.

Alex heaved a huge sigh and gazed at the skyline, which was slowly turning orange.

_Befriend Drake Merwin, _a taunting voice said in her ear. _Change him. Whatever. You know you can't. Monsters can't change. Monsters can't be friends. Monsters can't **love**, no matter what you do or say, Alex Lucine. So don't even try._

_"I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly, it's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep, 'cause everything is never as it seems, when I fall asleep..." _Alex sang loudly, not caring who heard, hoping to expel the horrible voice that plagued her.

_You can't do it, nobody can. He's hopeless, long gone from the time he fired his first gun. You'd be insane to even try._

"We all have some measure of insanity," Alex whispered, and then sang, _"I'd like to make myself__ believe that planet Earth turns slowly, it's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep, because my dreams are bursting at the seams..." _

_You cannot change him. He is mine._

_Drake Merwin belongs to me._

_I am the Gaiaphage._

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**Whoo.... Wow. Alrighty then. Review, please! :)**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:**

**P.S. I have heard from a very reliable source... (I follow Michael Grant on twitter) that our good friend the psychopathic Drake Merwin is not in any way, shape, or form, dead. WHOO! XD  
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	10. Permanent

**Hola everyone, and guess who comes back in this chapter... Yay, Drake! :) Anyway, that's all I have to say!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, the songs and groups mentioned in this chapter, or the song "Permanent" by David Cook!**

**DEDICATION: Why do I feel the urge to dedicate almost every chapter to my wonderful DDC.... And L? Well, anyway, I dedicate this chapter to you guys (again). Thanks for being my twinkies and giving me inspiration to keep on writing! DDC (and L) Forever! :D**

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**Chapter Ten: Permanent**

Alex didn't see Drake for the next four days; he was usually sleeping, and she didn't want to disturb him, not when he was still recovering from a life-threatening injury. So she usually hung out with Barrino, Mas, and the rest of the soldiers. They practiced with their guns, and she used her water-whip, sadly thinking of her and Drake's sparring sessions and wondering when they would start up again.

She usually sang to herself while whipping at a dummy that Louis Wolfert had found somewhere and lovingly named "Sam". After a half an hour of listening to her mumble-sing, the boys had requested that she sing louder. Song requests soon followed, as did the rest of Coates finding out about her talent. She sometimes sang and played for whoever wanted to listen on an old piano she had found in the left wing of Coates' stage.

She had done Reginia Spektor and Britney Spears for the girls, Linkin Park and Thousand Foot Krutch for the boys (the soldiers especially enjoyed the song 'Smack Down'), My Chemical Romance, Owl City, and Three Days Grace for herself, and even experimented with things like T.I. and rap, and Phantom of the Opera. Whatever she sang, however she sang it, they wanted more. She had found out that Coates was lacking in happiness terribly, and singing seemed to give them some. So she sang.

Diana wasn't very happy about this, but Alex didn't care. Without Caine around, what was Diana going to do?

So on day five of Drake-not-coming-out-of-his-room, Alex headed to the stage after her scanty breakfast ration.

"Hey, Salena," she said to the little girl with a long brown ponytail and huge blue eyes as she passed her. "I'm going to go and sing, if you want to come and listen." Salena's chubby face broke into an ecstatic grin.

"Can you sing 'Sneakernight' again, for me?"

"Sure, but first Vincent asked for some Underoath, okay?"

Alex walked out onto the stage with Salena in tow, and saw that about two dozen kids were already there, in seats, laying on the ground, sprawled on the stage. Word travels quickly in Coates.

"Yeah, Alex!" Barrino yelled as she took a seat at the piano. "My request first! We share the same name!" Alex laughed.

"Sorry, Alex, but this is 'Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape' by Underoath, requested by Vincent Delduco!" He cheered when he heard his name. She sang that, then 'Sneakernight' by Vanessa Hudgens for Salena, then 'Run The Show' by Kat De Luna, requested by Barrino, simply because he wanted to get up onstage and rap Busta Rhymes' part.

"One more request!" she said loudly. "My vocal chords are wearing out!" A girl with shoulder-length black hair named Blaise requested 'Acoustic #3' by the Goo Goo Dolls, so she sang that. She made to stand up after the song was over, but a shout from the assembled kids pushed her back down.

"One more!" Mas bellowed indignantly. "C'mon, Alex, you've got nothing better to do!" Alex shook her head, then smiled.

"Fine then!"

"She just couldn't resist my manly charm," Mas said loudly. Alex rolled her eyes.

"This is 'Permanent' by David Cook, on Alex Lucine's request!" she yelled, kind of nervous inside. This was the first time she had ever sang this song, to others, at least. And it was also the first time putting the piano music to it. "Here goes nothing!"

_"Is this the moment where I look you in the eyes?" _she sang. _"Forgive my broken promise that you'll never see me cry... And everything it will surely change even if I tell you I won't go away today..."_

She smiled softly to herself. This was going pretty well; this song maybe would even become a favorite.

_"Will you think that you're all alone, when no one's there to hold your hand... When all you know seems so far away and everything is temporary, rest your head... I'm permanent..."_

Her voice wavered a bit at the end, and she heard Barrino wolf-whistle encouragement. She smiled a bit and plowed on.

_"I know he's living in hell every single day, and so I ask, oh God is there some way for me to take his place?" _She looked out into the audience on a whim, and Barrino caught her eye. He jerked his head towards the door of the auditorium, and there stood Drake. She almost faltered, but caught herself in time.

_"And when they say it's so touch and go, I wish I could make it go away, but still you say..."_

He looked better, still pale, but fully healed and healthy. He didn't come and sit down, but leaned in the doorway.

_"Do you think that you're all alone, when no one's there to hold your hand... When all you know seems so far away and everything is temporary, rest your head... I'm permanent..."_

Alex broke off into a piano solo, then sang-

_"I'm permanent!"_

She then played the piano a bit more, then bowed her head and sang softly, so that every person in the auditorium had to strain to hear-

_"Is this the moment where I look you in the eyes, forgive my broken promise that you'll never see me cry..."_

She looked up to the applause from the audience. Salena ran up and hugged her legs.

"'Sneakernight' one more time, Alex," she pleaded. Alex laughed.

"Maybe next time. You really need to find a new favorite song!" The little girl scampered off, and Alex Barrino was upon her.

"Did you see him?"

"Yeah," she replied, watching Salena run towards the door. "Did he leave?"

"Right after you played the last note. I need to go and find him... Ask a few questions. My handgun broke this morning, I think he'll be able to fix it."

"Probably," Alex muttered dryly, to no avail. Other Alex was gone. She frowned and turned to walk off of the stage.

_Why didn't he stay to talk to me? I at least deserve a 'thank you' for saving his life! Maybe he knows what Diana and I talked about on the roof the other night, and wants to avoid a confrontation. Well, Drake, too bad. You're getting one._

XxXxX

She hurried out of the auditorium and gasped when something wrapped around her waist without giving any warning. Realizing it was Drake's whip-arm, she rolled her eyes at his theatrics as she was pulled into a dark corner.

"Honestly, Drake, save the drama fo' yo' mama," Alex joked lightly as she turned to face him. He definitely wasn't in a joking mood. His eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth was in a tight line. "What's the matter?"

"The _matter_," he hissed, his voice sounding hoarse, like he hadn't used it in a few days, "is that you and Diana were _talking about me while I was lying on my DEATHBED_!" Alex gave him a look.

"Okay, one, if you don't stop now, I _will _call the drama police. Two, Diana was simply telling me a little of the, er, _activities _she, Caine, and yourself have taken a part of in the past. Three, _while _she was debriefing me about you, I figured something out. Diana Ladris is a big, fat, _JERK_!"

Alex would later swear that at that moment, a flicker of a smile passed over Drake's mouth, but then it was gone.

"What did she say about me?" he asked, sounding resigned.

"She told me about plastering." Drake sighed heavily.

"If she told you about that," he asked, "then why are you still here? Why didn't you go back to your cabin, where it's safe?" Alex decided to ignore that question.

"Is that why there's almost no freaks here?" she asked, counteracting his question with a question. "They all went with Sam?"

"There's probably still _some_ freaks here," he answered. "They're just too scared to admit that they have powers, and I don't blame them." Alex was quiet, thinking.

"We need other freaks besides me, Caine, and Diana," she mused. "I wonder if we--"

"_We_?" Drake said, unbelieving. "No. You can't possibly even want to be _near _me after you heard about plastering. You don't have to act to make me feel better about myself, Alex. Actually, I wouldn't even be offended if you ran right out that door and never came back."

Alex just shook her head. "I'm not quitting Coates Academy yet, Merwin. You can't get rid of me _that _easily. But I do want to know one thing. Why'd you do it?"

Drake looked at her, his grey eyes boring into her green ones. "Initially, it wasn't my idea. Caine said--"

"Caine came up with it?" Alex said, her tone disbelieving.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because," she replied, "it seemed kind of obvious that _you _wouldv'e had the idea of plastering freaks. You have no powers, you're bitter. But Caine _has _powers, so why would he come up with the idea of plastering people who have abilities like his?" Drake shrugged.

"Who knows how Caine's mind works?" he asked. "Anyway, I guess that makes sense. But it doesn't change anything. Caine has always been the planner, the strategist. I'm the one who actually gets his hands- er, whip- dirty." He paused for a second. "Hey, hold up! Who're you calling _bitter_?" Alex laughed.

"You, duh! Obviously you were jealous of the moofs back then, 'cause you didn't have any mutant powers of your own."

"I wasn't ever jealous of _moofs_!" Drake spluttered. Alex raised an eyebrow, a cynical look on her face. "Fine. Okay, maybe, _maybe_ I wanted to have a power, too. _Maybe _that's why I took so much joy in plastering. But now, I have my whip-arm, and that's way better then any _power_." He sneered. Alex smirked.

"Are you sure you wouldn't want to be able to do _this_?" she asked, and a ball of water formed out of her palm, and she tossed it between her two hands. "C'mon, plaster me. I dare you." Drake frowned.

"Y'know, plastering isn't really something most people _joke_ about," he said, annoyed. Alex rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Let's go find out what powers these Coates kids are hiding!" She moved to go down the hall, but he hung back. She sighed. "And I, Alex Lucine, hereby forgive you, Drake Merwin, for all of the horrible things you did to a bunch of innocent freaks. Now, let's go!"

She sprinted down the hall, yanked open the doors to the auditorium, and beckoned for him to follow.

He did, but reluctantly, and with a single question on his lips.

_Why?_

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**Thanks for reading this chapter, I have to go have fun outside with a bonfire! :) Hope you liked it!**

**REVIEW!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:**

**P.S. I'll try to have the next chapter up by Tuesday at the latest!  
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	11. Get Your Back Off The Wall

**Hey guys! I just have one piece of major news (other then that I got my hair cut) that I have to tell you. It's this blog that I made, under fayzofthemoon . blogspot . com ! It's basically me blogging about what I'm working on, but sometimes Alex (like this Alex, in the story) will get on and blog about what's happening in the FAYZ! So yeah, check it out. I just made it, so it'll probably take me awhile to get it working.**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, or the song 'Get Your Back Off The Wall' by the one, the only, the amazing, Family Force 5!  
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**Chapter Eleven: Get Your Back Off The Wall**

Alex walked through the halls of Coates, banging on doors, shouting down corridors, herding kids towards the auditorium. Diana suddenly showed up out of nowhere, and grabbed her arm harshly.

"What do you think you're doing?" the black-haired girl hissed. "Why are you telling everyone to go to the auditorium? Who do you think you are?" Her eyes narrowed, and she roughly released Alex's arm. "This just reeks of Drake; acting like he's Junior Caine or something." She frowned at Alex and made to stalk off down the hall, but the blonde's next words halted her in her tracks.

"It was actually my idea. I called a meeting because I have something important to say to everyone." Diana scowled and shoved her face near Alex's, their noses were almost touching.

"I don't know who you think you are, Alex Lucine," she said menacingly, "but you're not that great, let me tell you right now. Just because you sheltered us for a night, saved the life of a psychopath everyone wants dead anyway, and can make water shoot out of your palms doesn't mean you're on Caine's level, doesn't mean you're on _my _level." Alex stood a little taller, and glared down at Diana, who was at least an inch shorter then herself.

"Like I'd ever want to sink that low."

She then turned on her heel and walked away, savoring the small victory she had attained over Diana.

_Lucine, 1. Ladris, 0._

XxXxX

Alex sprinted towards the auditorium, practically gasping for breath.

_I told all of the kids to meet me at one thirty, _she thought frantically. _How will it look if _I'm _late? _At exactly one thirty-one, she yanked open the doors and slipped inside, breathing heavily.

_I am never running halfway across Coates again. This place is huge!_

She then noticed that almost every pair of eyes were on her, save for Louis Wolfert, who was immersed in a video game. Smiling shakily, she made her way to the stage and sat on the edge. Eyes were staring at her, expectant. She giggled nervously. She never was good in front of crowds.

"Hey, guys," she began.

"T'sup, Alex?" Barrino yelled from the front row. She cracked a real smile.

"Can you sing some Green Day?" another voice yelled.

"Sorry, I'm not gonna sing right now," Alex replied. "I have something to ask of you." The kids gazed at her, questioning. "Do you all know that I have the power?" Some kids furrowed their eyebrows, others nodded.

"What does that have to do with us?" one of them yelled.

"Well," Alex paused, nervous. "Do any of _you _have it?" A sudden, stunned silence filled the auditorium. Alex gazed at each of them in turn, hoping.

"Like I'm telling _you_!"

The speaker was a redhead named Johnny Davis, also known as "Sparks", and he was one of Drake's soldiers. He marched up the aisles and didn't stop until he was nose-to-nose with Alex.

"What's on your mind, Sparks?" she asked, trying to keep the mood light.

"If I had any powers at all, I wouldn't tell you," he replied slowly, as if he was talking to a small child. "You and Drake, you're like tight. And we all know what Drake does to freaks." Kids were nodding their heads and whispering, agreeing with Sparks.

"No, no, you don't--"

"I'm not getting plastered!" Sparks said, and the crowd shouted in agreement. Alex breathed out heavily. This was getting nowhere.

"Hey! HEY!" she yelled, to no avail. Sparks was clearly agitated, he was practically screaming in her face, and the rest of the kids seemed_ thisclose_ to a riot. It seemed they had kept their emotions in check for far too long on this subject.

"I'm not about to plaster anybody!" Alex yelled into the growing mayhem, but nobody seemed to hear her. She contemplated slipping out the back door of the auditorium, but that seemed like the coward's way out.

Alex Lucine had been called a lot of things in her almost-fifteen years of life, but she had never been called a coward; and she wasn't going to give people a reason to start.

"HEY!" she screamed, just as a resounding _crack_, a mini sonic-boom, reverberated through the room. Every mouth in sight shut, and every eye, including Alex's, turned towards the source of the noise.

Drake stood in the side door of the auditorium, whip-arm still hovering in the air, his expression murderous. He stalked down the center aisle, glaring at each kid in turn. They shrank from him, and Alex felt for the first time the magnitude of fear and resentment that the kids of Coates had for him. But under that fear and resentment, there was a measure of grudging respect.

He reached where Alex was standing, and sent Sparks Davis running back to his seat with a single dark look.

"What are you trying to do?" he hissed. "Start a riot? I was halfway across Coates and I _still _heard whatever it is you're doing!"

"Well, aren't _you _supposed to be helping me?" Alex whispered back. "I asked them if they had any powers, and they all freaked out on me!" Drake smirked.

"Of course they did. They've seen you with me a lot, so it's just common sense that they would think that we were searching for freaks to plaster." Alex nodded.

"We need to gain their trust."

Drake frowned. "I'm the one that basically _lost _that trust in the first place, and now I have to gain it back? It should be easy for you, you're new, you can sing, and are generally a kind of trustworthy type of person. But me? I'm Drake Merwin. I have a whip for an arm and carry a gun. People _trust _me about as far as they can throw me." Alex shook her head, smiling slightly.

"Then you shut your mouth and let me do the talking." She faced the assembled kids once more, and said, "okay, you guys. I've realized that I came about this _totally _the wrong way. We- being Drake and I- figured out this morning that if we're going to wage war on Sam's people eventually, we're going to need freaks." The kids gazed at her, silent for now.

"Now, I get it that you all are afraid of plastering," she continued, "and I understand that. But I want _you _to understand that plastering is over and gone. If you have a power, you're going to be respected around here." She looked at Drake, who nodded, agreeing. The kids still looked extremely wary, so she spoke again.

"I even have powers, I can control water." To prove her point, she shot an icicle at the ceiling. It embedded itself deep in the grained wood and stuck there, quivering. "And you don't see anyone trying to plaster _me_. Well, that's all I have to say. If any of you have any doubts that need to be put to rest..."

"What if we don't want to use our powers to fight anyone?" Blaise Dumas asked lazily from the second row. Drake stepped in front of Alex.

"We just want to see whether or not you _have _powers," he answered, matching her tone perfectly. "You can say whether or not you want to use them later, and we'll respect that." Blaise raised an eyebrow and gazed stonily at him.

"From what I've seen, Drake, you don't respect _anyone_." Drake glared.

"He might not, but I do," Alex said hurriedly, seeing that Drake wanted to make an angry retort. "And I'm pretty much the one leading this little project. Caine's, er, not around right now, Drake's not a moof, and Diana _hardly _has any experience fighting." She saw some of the kids nodding, agreeing with _her _this time.

"I'd tell Alex if I had powers," Salena said, standing up proudly. "And I do. Watch this!" She rubbed her hands together quickly; Alex saw blue and white sparks fly. She held them up to her head, and her hair immediately stood on end.

"You control energy?" Barrino asked the six-year-old. "Cool!" Salena beamed. Fueled by the trust Salena had in Alex, more and more kids started talking about their powers, until Alex could hardly hear herself think. Another crack from Drake's whip brought control back into the auditorium.

"If you have a power, line up onstage!" Alex shouted, then muttered to Drake, "let's do this thing."

XxXxX

Alex's iPod speakers were blasting music as she slowly but surely worked her way down the line of kids, notebook and pen in hand.

"Name?" she asked a tall, confident blonde.

"Juliette Taylor," she replied, sticking out her hand. Alex shook it.

"Power?"

_"Get 'cho back off the wall, get 'cho back off the wall, get 'cho back off the wall, get 'cho back off the wall... Get 'cho get 'cho get 'cho back off the wall, get 'cho get 'cho back, get 'cho back off the wall..."_

"I can duplicate myself," Juliette replied. Alex's eyes widened.

"No way!"

"Totally. Check this out." Juliette ran her hands down her legs and up her arms, concentrated for a minute, and suddenly, a second Juliette was seemingly drawn from the first one. Alex grinned.

"That's _awesome_! And you kept that hidden from Caine all this time?"

"Yep." The second Juliette jumped back into the first one's body. "Diana read me as a half-bar at first, I said that I wasn't going to be a threat, and she didn't question me after that. But my power was growing, so I practiced it in secret."

Alex nodded, wrote _'Juliette Taylor; duplicator' _in her notebook, and moved on.

_"This revolution starts when you're movin', don't wanna step to me unless you plan on losin'... Not here to brag, not here for thrills, I'm in a battle baby, I dance to kill..."_

"Name?"

"Jace Justin; you can call me J.J.," an eight-year-old boy with curly brown hair said.

"Power?"

J.J. clenched his fists together, and metal seemed to grow on them, covering his whole body. He got a kid to drop a brick on his head from the balcony. The brick shattered.

_'Jace Justin; invincibility'._

_"Fall in, shakin' like a leaf, bucklin' at the knees, stop draggin' your feet... Time to go all-in, time for standing tall, move together all, no win, lose, or draw, get 'cho back off the wall..."_

"Name?"

"C'mon, Alex, you know who I am!"

"Name?" Alex repeated firmly.

"Johnny Davis," Sparks sighed, "but my nickname is Sparks."

"I thought you were against telling anyone about your power?" Alex questioned shrewdly. Sparks flushed.

"Well, I, I didn't want to be the only one..."

"Just as I thought, you're a crowd-follower. Well, is that your power, or do you actually have one?"

Sparks cupped his hands together, and suddenly, a tiny flame was held between them. He looked at Alex as if he wanted praise. Alex stared back at him, put her palm over his, and without taking her green eyes from his brown ones, put out his fire with a gush of water from her palm.

_'Johnny 'Sparks' Davis; firestarter'._

_"Get 'cho back off the wall, get 'cho back off the wall, get 'cho back off the wall, get 'cho back off the wall... Get 'cho get 'cho get 'cho back off the wall, get 'cho get 'cho back, get 'cho back off the wall..."_

"Name?"

"Blaise Dumas," the black-haired girl said, sounding bored.

"Power?"

She held her hands up to her eyes as if looking through binoculars. Alex almost laughed, but then realized that the other girl was deadly serious.

"I can see everything, anything, close-up now."

_'Blaise Dumas; eagle-eyes'._

_"We dig the trenches so they be trippin', I'm on the front line yeah, see them flinchin', annihilation of the enemy, wrath pours down when I move my feet..."_

This went on until Alex had recorded the powers of ten kids, total. Sparks was the only one of Drake's soldiers that had hidden powers.

_"Fall in, all my new recruits, now you're in my troops, shake 'em in their boots... Time to go all-in, they can scratch and claw, we ain't backin' off, time to lay down the law, get 'cho back off the wall..."_

In all, the Coates freaks now included a duplicator, a girl who could control energy, a firestarter, a girl with the eyes of an eagle, a hypnotist, an invincible boy, a boy who could literally jump buildings, a forcefield creator, a girl who could see five minutes into the future, a girl who could change her appearance at will, and Alex, the water-wielder. She didn't count Diana, because she didn't think that the other girl would appreciate her rallying the freaks without Caine's approval.

That night, Alex looked down at her list proudly. They were going to start working with the freaks, really developing their powers, starting the next day. But as Alex re-read the list, she realized that the problem wasn't the freaks' lack of experience, and it wasn't even the fact that this operation would have to be conducted right under Diana's nose.

It was the looming knowledge that none of the muties had anything close to trust for Drake, and that he, in turn, pretty much still hated anyone with mutant powers.

_He learned to moderately like me, _Alex reasoned with herself. _If he accomplished _that, _then why can't he learn to like, or at least respect, these freaks?_

But even with that in mind, Alex could feel nothing but apprehension as she faced a day trying to make these unlikely people work together.

_"This is a call to you all, get 'cho back off the wall... Get 'cho get 'cho get 'cho back, get 'cho back off the wall..."_

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_**Well, there it is. I hope you like it! It's going to take me a while to put the next one up, I have to finish thirteen still! XD**

**REVIEW!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	12. Naturally

**Hey all you crazy peoples! Well... I actually don't have anything to say, except that I don't really like this chapter... :( But just tell me what you think of it... I think it's kinda boring. Well, every story has to have at least ONE boring chapter, right?! RIGHT?!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, or the song 'Naturally' by Selena Gomez...  
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**REMINDER: Don't forget to check out Alex's blog at fayzofthemoon . blogspot . com ; without spaces!! It's going to tell a whole bunch of background story, like some of Alex's adventures around Coates with Drake and Barrino, and even a random crush that Alaysia has on Drake! Ooh, juicy. Check it out. I already have two of Alex's entries up.  
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**Chapter Twelve: Naturally **

Alex woke up the next day feeling like she hadn't slept at all. She yawned and forcibly made herself leave the warmth of her bed. After showering, she met up with Drake in the dining hall.

"Ready?" he asked, after she had eaten some -now very stale- dry cereal.

"Are _you_?" she countered. "These kids all have powers, are you _sure_ you can resist the urge to plaster all of them?" He gave her a look, and she smiled back at him. "Just checking."

They both got up from the table, just as Diana walked over to them. She saw Drake stiffen.

"Where are you two going?" the black-haired girl asked in a fake cheerful voice.

"More weapons training," Drake replied in a monotone. "Make sure we have the whole sub-level; if anyone goes down there, they're likely to get shot." Diana grimaced.

"Beautiful. Just put the off-limits sign on all of the doors."

"Will do," Alex interjected and followed Drake out the door. "Let's go get those signs. Great lie, by the way."

"It wasn't completely a lie," he replied. "I'm having the soldiers down there, too. Oliver Harban's reaction time is so bad it's almost a crime." Alex smiled, and right then and there all doubts flew out of her about Drake not being able to handle working with these kids. It was apparent that he had thought long and hard about it, and even came up with an excuse to keep Diana and other people out of the sub-level.

She smiled wider. He was changing. Slowly, but he was still changing.

_Take _that_, Gaiaphage, whoever, _what_ever you are._

XxXxX

Alex stood in the basement, facing the ten freaks, after she and Drake had marked the sub-level "off limits". There was Juliette Taylor the duplicator, Sparks Davis the firestarter, Blaise Dumas the eagle-eyed girl, her twin brother, Blake Dumas, who could create forcefields, Salena Forrester, who was the sister of Michael, who was one of Drake's soldiers, and could control energy, Jace Justin the invincible boy, Cherish Rios who could see five minutes into the future, Otter Orris who could change her appearance at will, Noel Wolf, a boy who could jump high enough to clear buildings, and Alaysia Flaim, who could literally hypnotize people.

"All right," Alex said. "Here's how we're going to do this. First, Cherish, J.J., Juliette, Sparks and Blake are going to go to one side of this room, the side with the targets, and learn from Drake how to shoot a gun..." She felt the change in the mood of the room almost immediately.

"We're going to do _what_?" loudmouth Sparks said indignantly. "Why in the world would I need to learn how to shoot a _gun_?" The rest of the freaks looked just as wary. Drake stalked forward to stand beside Alex, and she silently prayed that he wouldn't do anything remotely Drake-like, such as wrapping his whip-arm around Sparks and screaming at him.

"Noel," he snapped suddenly, turning to the other boy. Noel looked straight at him, a glint of fear in his green eyes. "What's your power?"

"I can jump really high," he replied warily. Drake nodded.

"And what good is that going to be in a fight?"

"I could get away really fast... And pop up when the other side isn't expecting me..."

"Yeah," Drake said, agreeing. "But if you had a gun..."

"Then I could jump around and hit them from all sides?" Drake grinned.

"Now you're thinking like a soldier. J.J. You're power's invincibility, right?"

"Right."

"And if you had a gun..." Drake prompted.

"I could hit them, but they couldn't hit me?"

"Exactly." Drake sounded happy. "I've been thinking about this ever since last night. You know how lines are sort of being drawn, a normals versus freaks kind of thing? But if we could blur the line a little, me and the soldiers working with Alex and you muties, then we could all learn from each other, I guess, and be stronger from the inside? Stronger, at least, then the first time we attacked Perdido Beach." Alex stared at Drake, as if seeing him for the first time.

_Holy speech! _she thought. _Who would've expected _that _from Mr. I'm Better Then The Freaks? At least the others are taking it well. Barrino over there's grinning like a maniac!_

And he was.

"Yeah, soldiers and moofs!" he yelled. "We could be like... Moldiers! Or soofs!" Alex rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," she said loudly, "the people that I mentioned can go over there with Drake, and Alaysia, Noel, Salena, Blaise and Otter can come over here with me." The group split, and Alex was left with the five other moofs.

"So, I'm not really sure how to do this," Alex began. "I've never really helped anyone develop their powers before, only mine..." Alaysia smiled at her.

"I've had my powers for about two years now," the thirteen-year-old said. "I can help you out, if you need it."

"We can all help each other," the curly brown haired girl named Otter said. "It doesn't really matter what age we are, or how long we've had our powers, I'd bet we can all learn something from each other." Alaysia narrowed her eyes -colored purple by special contacts- at the other girl.

"All right," Alex said quickly, stepping in-between them. "How about we just demonstrate our powers before we do anything else. Salena, you can go first."

The six-year-old rubbed her hands together, just like the first time, and once again, blue and white sparks flew. "That's like all I can do," she said, sounding disappointed. "That, and make my hair stand on end." Alex smiled at her.

"That's okay, you'll get better at it as we go on. Alaysia?"

The black-haired girl stepped up. "I'm going to need someone to hypnotize," she said loudly. Lark Penn, a brown-haired soldier, suddenly ran up.

"I heard you needed an assistant?" he said breathlessly. Alaysia smirked at the affect her looks were having on the boy.

"Yeah. Stand right here." Lark complied, and she positioned herself right in front of him. Alex watched, interested, as Alaysia put both of her hands on her head, right above her ears, and stared straight into Lark's blue eyes. His expression almost immediately went vacant; he stared languidly at Alaysia, who smirked again.

"That was easy. It's harder when the person's farther away, is smarter, and isn't completely in love with you."

"Well, what happens to him now?" Otter asked angrily.

"He's in my complete control," Alaysia sneered back. "At least," she added to Alex, "until my energy runs out. I'd say about ten minutes for this particular specimen." The "specimen" then began to spin around in wide circles, as Alaysia had ordered.

"Okay," Alex said, making notes. "We'll work on you holding your hypnotism out for longer periods of time, over longer distances, and with stronger minds." Alaysia scowled and released Lark from the hold she had over him. He dazedly stumbled back to the other group after rubbing his eyes. "Blaise?"

"You already know what I can do," the other girl said, looking bored, as per usual. "I can see anything in this basement, anyway. But I need to work on holding it for longer amounts of time, too. When I use my power for over five minutes, my vision gets blurry and I feel sick." Alex made a note.

"Otter?"

The brown-haired girl touched various parts of her body in rapid succession, and she seemed to blur. Her body seemed to shrink, gain weight, and alter all at once. It about three seconds Otter was a short, pudgy, blonde, ten-year-old girl. Alaysia laughed.

"Now we really know what Otter looks like." The blonde girl's eyes narrowed, and she blurred again. This time, a 6'0'' lanky, tanned blonde stood in front of the group. Alaysia stopped laughing, and scowled. The model blurred, and Otter was back.

"I can hold it for about twenty minutes to a half an hour," she told Alex, "and then I'm back to myself." Alex nodded.

"And what about you, Noel? Show us what you got."

The blond jumped, and touched the basement's ceiling, which was at least twice his height.

"I can go really high and really far," he explained, a slightly cocky note to his voice. "But only for a little while, then I get tired. And hungry, I get so hungry." Alex made another note.

"Okay, guys, you can take a break." She saw Drake tell the others the same thing, and then the both of them met in the middle.

"How's it going?" she asked. He shrugged.

"That Blake Dumas is pretty good, and so's Juliette Taylor." He pointed out a tall black girl across the room; she had dyed platinum blonde hair and was talking to Blaise. "But that nine-year-old, Cherish Rios? I couldn't even get her to hold the gun. She was scared out of her mind, I think." Alex gazed at the little redhead, who was sitting all by herself in one of the basement's corners.

"I'll go talk to her."

Cherish glanced up at her as Alex quietly sat next to her. Alex noticed the other girl's red-rimmed eyes immediately.

"Leave me alone."

Alex said nothing, just sat silently next to her. The girl looked up again, anger filling her light blue eyes.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone!"

"Well, obviously, I'm not going to," Alex replied shrewdly. "Drake told me that you had a problem holding the gun. If you don't want to learn how to shoot one, I don't care. It's perfectly fine to be afra--"

"I'm not scared of holding the stupid gun!" Cherish said shrilly. "I'm not scared of... of anything." The younger girl tried to hide it, but Alex saw that her eyes flickered towards Drake."

"What did he do to you?" Alex asked seriously. "You can tell me, honestly." Cherish looked at her, tears falling freely.

"Him and C... Him and Caine," she stuttered through her sobs, "took my brother from me. They changed him. Andrew used to be so nice to me... To everyone. They made him into a bully!" Alex put an arm around Cherish, and the other girl didn't pull away.

"Where is he now? Andrew, I mean."

"He left, poofed," she said, crying harder. "They tied him to the ceiling and videotaped his poof. They didn't even let him... they didn't even let him say goodbye!" And with this, the little redhead lost it, flinging herself into Alex's arms and full-on sobbing. Alex hugged her tightly.

"It's okay," she whispered soothingly. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, you can just stay with me, if you want."

Cherish took one last shuddering sob, wiped her eyes, and glared at Alex. "I'll do the same stuff as everyone else," she said, sounding determined. "I won't let him scare me." Alex hugged her again.

"I know it's hard to believe," she whispered into the smaller girl's ear, "but he's really not that scary. He just likes to think he is. But if he gives you any trouble, just come to me. I saved his life, he owes me one." Cherish smiled shakily.

"Could you... Really quick... For me?"

"Sing?" Alex asked. "Sure. The rest of these people need a pick-me-up too, I think. I know I do." She helped Cherish up, then sang, _"how you choose to express yourself, it's all your own and I can tell, it comes naturally, it comes naturally..."_

They passed Drake's group of moofs attempting to load a gun for the first time, and she smiled at him. He motioned to Cherish, a questioning look in his grey eyes.

"She'll be fine," she mouthed over the other girl's head. Drake nodded.

_"You follow what you feel inside, it's intuitive, you don't have to try, it comes naturally, mmm, it comes naturally..."_

They reached the new group, Sparks, J.J., Juliette, Blake, and now Cherish. Alex watched and sang as they showed her their powers.

_"And it takes my breath away, what you do so naturally..."_

Sparks covered both of his hands in fire, and was flicking tiny _sparks_ at the ceiling, where they'd go out before reaching the wood.

_"You are the thunder and I am the lightning, and I love the way you know who you are underneath, exciting... When you know it's meant to be, everything comes naturally, it comes naturally, when you're with me baby, it comes naturally, it comes naturally, bay-bay-bay-by..."_

J.J. quickly covered his body with the hard, metal, indestructible armor, and he made it stay there for almost five full minutes.

_"You have a way of moving me, a force of nature, your energy, it comes naturally, you know it does, it comes naturally, yeah..."_

Juliette ran her hands up and down her arms, like she had showed Alex before, and a second Juliette was drawn from the first one. Juliette kept her there until her body was sapped of energy, which took about five to six minutes.

_"And it takes my breath away, every time, what you do so naturally..."_

Blake straightened his arms out from his sides, and concentrated hard. Blue energy radiated from his palms, creating an impenetrable forcefield. He held it for about three minutes, before dropping his arms, exhausted.

_"You are the thunder and I am the lightning, and I love the way you know who you are underneath, exciting... When you know it's meant to be, everything comes naturally, it comes naturally, when you're with me baby, it comes naturally, it comes naturally, bay-bay-bay-by..."_

Cherish had explained to Alex that her powers of seeing flashes of the future came at random, so when Blake was finished, all of the muties and soldiers left the sub-level, most yelling thank-yous and goodbyes to Alex. She hugged Salena and Cherish, and they too, left.

Alex was drained, she felt like crawling into bed and sleeping for a year. But she made herself help Drake clean up, singing the rest of the song under her breath.

_"When we collide, sparks fly, when you look in my eyes, it takes my breath away... You are! You are the thunder and I am the lightning, and I love the way you know who you are underneath, exciting... When you know it's meant to be, everything comes naturally, it comes naturally, when you're with me baby... Everything comes naturally, it comes naturally, bay-bay-bay-by..."_

When all of the cleanup was done, she turned to face Drake, who looked almost as tired as she felt.

"I think that was a success," he said, shrugging. She nodded, grinning.

"We're going to have regular meetings, I guess," she said. "The only thing we have to do is keep it a secret from Diana."

"Definitely," he emphasized. "She can't learn about _any _of this." Alex moved quickly, covering the two steps of space in between them in a second.

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She felt his body tense, and then relax, but just a little. She let go of him and stepped back, smiling.

"What was that for?" he asked, a questioning look in his gray eyes. Alex realized that that was probably the first hug he had experienced in years.

"I'm Alex, remember?" she said, and smirked, remembering his words to her after his post-dance kiss. "And Alex usually hugs her partners in crime. It's all part of business." Drake rolled his eyes, and she swatted at his shoulder playfully. "You know you love me, Merwin."

He rolled his eyes again, but Alex swore she saw a ghost of a smile flit across his lips before they walked out of the basement together.

* * *

**I broke 3,000 words, oh yeah! Who rocks? That's right, me. (and you, if you review! :D)**

**Two orders of business before you go and review.**

**One, it's my brother's birthday tomorrow, happy birthday Asher Mellino, my good man. (He's gonna be ten...)**

**Two, I'm sorry if this chapter was a little blah. And long. It was worse in my notebook, but I kind of spiced (Thanks, Alyssa, for that word) it up for you guys on the internet! **

**Oh yeah, an unexpected three... Go on Alex's blog! You can even comment on it, and comments are kinda like reviews... And we all know how much I love those. So yeah. Three, two one...**

**REVIEW!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	13. Tiffany Blews

**Okay all, this chapter is going to be kind of short. But bear with me, the real action starts in the next one. Thanks for all your awesome reviews, you guys rock out loud! :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, "Tiffany Blews" by Fall Out Boy, or that site that Kagane showed me... IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE! But I watched the intro about five times... But enough of my ranting! **

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**Chapter Thirteen: Tiffany Blews **

The weeks passed. Alex didn't see that much of Drake, as his group usually worked outside near the targets, and Alex's group of muties took the sub-level. Today she was with Blake, Salena, J.J., Otter, and Juliette. She had learned from experience not to put Otter and Alaysia together; that Monday the two girls had almost came to blows when words were no longer enough. Alex had to admit, she didn't like Alaysia very much either. The girl was shrill and self-centered, and she had a slight infatuation with Drake, which, for some odd reason, drove Alex insane.

She hummed to herself as she readied the basement; bricks in a pile to be thrown at J.J., large branches and planks for Salena to burn through, and things to throw at Blake's forcefield.

_"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh..."_ she sang quietly. _"__Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh...__ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh... Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh... I'm not a crybaby, I'm _the _crybaby, a caterpillar that got stuck, Mr. Moth, come quick with any luck..."_

She made sure that she had her walkie-talkie, because that was the main communication link between Drake and herself during these sessions.

_"A long walk to a dark h-h-h-house, a Roman candle heart keeps us far apart... I've got your body doing all right, hate me baby, maybe I'm a piece of art, oh my friends all lie and say they only want the best wishes for me... Oh, 3, 2, 1, we go live..."_

As she finished setting up, Otter walked through the basement doors. She smiled when she caught sight of Alex.

"Fall Out Boy again?" she asked jokingly. Alex rolled her eyes at the other girl, also grinning.

"You know how I am," she replied, then sang, _"And oh, baby, you're a classic, like a little black dress, you're a fading moon... Stuck on a little hot mess..."_

_"A little hot mess," _Otter sang, echoing her. Alex looked at her, startled, she had never heard the other girl sing before, and she had a pretty good voice. Without missing a beat, she continued.

_"Whoa, and oh, baby, you're a classic, like a little black dress, and watch you'll be faded soon... Stuck on a little hot mess..."_

_"Little hot mess!" _Otter sang with enthusiasm.

_"Whoa, whoa," _Alex sang, _"I can make your heart slow..."_

_"I can feel the weather in my bones," _Otter sang.

_"Wish hard enough, I can turn into what I like," _Alex continued. _"Your pupils, they're big, rollin' rollin' like dice! They say, they only want the best wishes for me..."_

_"They only want the best for me," _Otter echoed. _"Oh, 3, 2, 1, we go live, and..."_

_"Oh, baby you're a classic," _they both sang together, shoulders touching. _"Like a little black dress, you're a faded moon... Stuck on a little hot mess... Little hot mess... Whoa, whoa, and oh, baby you're a classic, and like a little black dress, just watch you'll be faded soon... Stuck on a little hot mess... Little hot mess... Whoa, whoa..."_

_"Not the girl I was, the girl I am is just venting, venting, dear gravity, you held me down in this starless city," _Alex sang.

_"Oh, not the girl I was, the girl I am is just venting, venting, dear, gravity, you held me down in this starless city," _Otter echoed, then they both sang,

_"They say, they only want the best wishes for me, they only want the best for me, oh, 3, 2, 1, we go live, and oh, baby you're a classic, and like a little black dress..."_

"Hey songbirds," a drawly voice sounded from behind them. Otter immediately spun around, but Alex took her time. She'd know that voice anywhere. "Are you guys going to start, or what?" Drake stood in the doorway, surrounded by Alex's group. Otter blushed a furious red.

"Well, we were just taking an, er, _constructive break_," Alex replied. Drake snorted.

"I'm going to leave these moofs in your care, now, Alex," Drake said slowly, knowing it would incense her. "Do you think you can handle that?" In reply, Alex conjured a small blob of water, and threw it at his head.

Her aim was true, and the sight of Drake spluttering and coughing up water was one that the Coates moofs relished for the next couple of weeks.

"Do you think you can handle _that_, Drake?" she crowed. He glared at her.

"Just stick to the plan."

"Don't worry," she reassured him. "I've got my walkie-talkie, and I know what to do if Diana shows her pretty little face around here." Drake smirked, and left. Alex shook her head at his retreating back, and turned to her group.

"Okay, let me see what you got!"

XxXxX

Drake sat on a hill, watching the mix of his soldiers and the freaks as they practiced shooting at the targets. With the help of Juliette and Noel he had actually constructed a few targets that actually moved.

Blaise Dumas stood next to him. He surprisingly didn't mind her presence, she was quiet, and necessary as a lookout, with her eagle eyes.

"Could you watch J.J. for a second?" he requested. She turned her eyes toward the targets.

"His aim's off,' she said after a couple of minutes. "He still flinches every time, right before he shoots." Drake frowned and stood up.

"I'll be right back."

He was about halfway down the hill when Blaise's yell halted him in his tracks.

"What is it?" he asked after running back to the top of the hill.

"Diana," Blaise replied. "She's heading this way." Drake swore and cracked his whip in the air, once, twice, three times. That was the signal. The affect it had upon the kids below was instant. The moofs threw down their guns and the soldiers that weren't shooting picked them up. Blaise and Drake ran down to join them, and Drake began yelling instructions to the soldiers, and Blaise sat a little way away with the moofs.

In all, this change took about two minutes, give or take a few seconds.

"What's going on here?" Diana snarled as she stalked up.

"Well," Drake replied, his civil tone extremely fake. "I was attempting to teach these kids how to shoot a gun, since we've scared away all of the freaks, I do believe that we're the only source of protection that Coates has, as of now." Diana scowled all throughout this little speech.

"Where's Alex?" she spat. "I have something to tell her." If Drake was nervous, his face didn't show it.

"She said something about going to the basement," he replied, shrugging. "Now, please, get out of here." She sneered and left. Drake hurriedly took his walkie-talkie out of his jacket pocket and pressed a button, hearing static erupt out of the machine.

"Yeah?" Alex's voice asked.

"Diana's coming," Drake replied.

"Okay," Alex said. "Thanks for the warning."

"No problem," Drake answered. "Drake, over."

"Alex, over."

XxXxX

Alex threw down the brick that she was about to drop on J.J.

"Diana's coming!" she yelled. Instant action took place. Otter grabbed all of their equipment and any other things and threw them in the closet. The rest of them all sat on the floor, and Alex sat in front of them, and proceeded to demonstrate how she controlled water.

Diana burst through the door, and eyed them all suspiciously.

"What are you all doing down here?"

"Alex's just showing us her power," Blake said nonchalantly. "Pretty cool, isn't it?" Diana's eyes narrowed.

"I wish _I _had a power," Juliette sighed wistfully. Diana looked suspicious for a couple more seconds, then rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Alex, Barrino was looking for you. He wants to go on another search-for-food party, why, I have no idea. We have plenty of food as of now. But I'll tell him you're busy." She gave the assembled group a final sneer and stalked out of the basement door. As the door slammed shut behind her, Alex grinned.

"Crisis averted. Good job, all of you!"

Juliette shivered. "I almost convinced _myself_ with my acting! I need to prove to myself that I have powers..." She ran her hands down her arms and the second Juliette was suddenly there. Alex pulled out her walkie-talkie.

"Drake. It's Alex."

"Of course. How'd it go?"

"She doesn't suspect a thing."

Alex heard a crackle of static from the other end as Drake snorted. "I doubt it," he said. "With her being Diana, I'd bet that she suspects a _lot_. But whatever, as long as she doesn't catch us training freaks, I suppose she can't do anything _but_ suspect." Alex smiled.

"Good. Alex, out."

"Drake, out."

They both clicked their walkie-talkies off quickly, quick enough that they didn't hear the muted, staticky breathing of the person who had rigged that walkie-talkies to be permanently set on 'three-way'.

* * *

**Ooh, snap. It doesn't look good for our favorite pair of psychopath and water-wielding-girl! But as of now, they're both preoccupied with other things... Such as...**

**In the next chapter, Drake figures something out.**

**Just thought I'd say.**

**If YOU can figure it out before HE figures it out, then you get a prize. Hey, it's not that hard. It's just hard for him to admit. Hehe.**

**ANYWAY, I'm sorry that this chapter was so short :( but I'll try to have the next one up by Thursday! :)**

**REVIEW, my good reviewers!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	14. Stupid Girl

**Hey all of you funky people! In this grand chapter of TSL, you learn something. Actually, Drake learns something. Well, let's just say that YOU learn something WHILE Drake learns something. And lets just say it's not how to make cookies.**

**Dang, now I'm craving some cookies.  
**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, Drake, the song 'Stupid Girl' by Cold, or any cookies. :(**

**DEDICATION: I can't believe that I'm about to do this, but this chapter is dedicated to my brother, Stone. Annoying he may be, but he DID first show me this chapter's song. And for that, you get kudos. _-throws kudos at Stone-_ Bravo, brother of mine, bravo. **

**OTHER DEDICATION: I use the word 'snuggly' once in this chapter. And that use of that word is dedicated to one IAmCharlie, a.k.a. Laura. "I use 'snuggly'! I also use APPROACH!"-The Pilot; "HA, SEE?! I'm NOT crazy!"- Laura  
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**HAPPY NEWS: Yeah, I finally did it. I filled my whole one-subject college-rule notebook with TSL! And my handwriting isn't even that big! Yay me! Moving on from my egotistical rant...  
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**Chapter Fourteen: Stupid Girl**

Drake walked, alone, through the dark halls of Coates. This whole routine was familiar to him; this silence, this darkness. Drake wasn't an easy sleeper, and whenever he couldn't sleep he usually found himself prowling the corridors of Coates, late at night.

Except for the fact that tonight it was only eleven thirty.

Drake sighed. Out loud, something he never did if he could help it. He was bored, something that was also very rare. The past weeks, filled with avoiding Diana, planning things in secret with Alex, and teaching moofs how to shoot guns didn't really leave any time to be bored.

But now he was, and Alex wasn't even there to share in the boredom.

Speaking of Alex, he wasn't sure how he felt about that one. With him being Drake, crazy, psycho Drake, he hadn't really had a lot of experience with girls.

Some girls, like Diana, Astrid, and Dekka and Brianna of the liberated Coates freaks, he absolutely hated.

Others, like Juliette, Blaise, and Otter, he thought were okay. They didn't bother him, and that was always a plus.

Still others, like Alaysia, he thought were obnoxious beyond belief. But as long as she didn't annoy him, he contented himself with mild glares in her direction.

But then there was Alex.

He had never met anyone quite like Alex.

She had these weird quirks that attracted him like nothing ever had, not even a gun, not even his whip-arm.

He had to admit to himself, if he had to choose between Alex or his whip-arm, he wasn't sure which he would choose, and that was disconcerting to him.

When he thought of her, which was increasingly more often as he looked back, he got this strange feeling inside of him, a feeling that he couldn't name even if he tried. Thinking about her now, filled with this mystery feeling, Drake desperately wanted to talk with her.

He would never admit it out loud, but back when they had their own sparring sessions, just the two of them, he had liked that. He liked the way she had taken so quickly to the water-whip, liked that she could hold her own against him, but he liked most of all that she wasn't afraid of him in the least.

At first she was scared, of course she was. Everyone was scared of Drake from their first impression onward. But that was the thing, she hadn't stayed scared. She had asserted herself into Drake's life, Alex and her ever-present iPod.

That iPod was another quirk that Drake liked (not that he'd ever admit it, again). It was almost a part of her, and when she sang she seemed to pour her heart and soul into every word, whether the song was a catchy pop tune or a slow ballad.

This whole time he was thinking about her, he had been walking towards her door, the same one he had shown her to on her first night at Coates. His hand hesitated on the cold doorknob -_Since when do I hesitate?_ he thought- before he pulled it open.

He had been hoping to see her in her room, maybe with Otter or Juliette, but the room was empty.

But then, just as he was about to pull the door shut, he saw the metallic rectangle lying on her pillow.

Alex's iPod.

He knew that he shouldn't. He really, really knew that he shouldn't. But Drake Merwin was never one to do what he should, so he stepped inside the room, sat on the chair beside Alex's bed, and picked up her iPod.

It was cold, heavy, and metal, much like any other iPod Classic. Drake put the earbuds snuggly in his ears, and pressed the middle of the click wheel.

The screen lit up almost instantaneously. The song Alex had been listening to was by Cold, called 'Stupid Girl'. Drake realized from the little icon at the top of the screen that the song was on repeat.

Wondering how good a song had to be for Alex Lucine, music connoisseur, to have it on repeat, Drake restarted the song and pressed 'play'.

_"Wanna love ya, wanna bug ya, wanna squeeze ya, stupid girl... Wanna touch ya, wanna take ya, wanna shut ya, stupid girl..." _Drake found himself settling back in his chair, liking the singer's gritty voice. _"I can't take this, born to break this..."_

He was still wondering why Alex liked it so much when the chorus played.

_"She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today? She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today?"_

Drake blinked. He rewound, and played it again.

_"She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today? She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today?"_

Drake shook his head.

_The song's not literally saying that Alex is going to up and leave, _he told himself. _Although it could be saying that if I don't get fixed what's wrong with my life, that'll drive her away... No, it's just some song. It doesn't mean anything. _He rolled his eyes at his own stupidity and once again pressed 'play'.

_"Stupid girl... Stupid girl..."_

Drake found himself thinking of Alex more and more as the song progressed.

_Even the 'stupid girl' part applies to her, _he thought. _She _is _stupid, making me think about her all of the time, even when I don't want to._

_"I'm a loner, I'm a loser, I'm a winner, in my mind... I'm a bad one, I'm a good one, I'm a sick one, with a smile..."_

_This is the part in the song where she thinks of me, _he thought confidently, then seemed to wilt. _Is this how she really sees me?_

_Of course, _his subconscious replied. _Even _you _think of yourself as a psychopath, why shouldn't everyone else? _Drake sighed, and continued listening to the song.

_"I can't take this, born to break this..."_

Drake found himself falling deeper and deeper into the song, actually pausing the music to really hear and think about the lyrics, something that struck him as a very Alexy thing to do.

_"I kind of feel like that right now," _he thought, _"like I can't stand being like this anymore. Maybe I'm coming down with something..."_

_"She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today? She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today? She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today?"_

The more that Drake thought about Alex and the song saying "she's going away", the more he kept remembering what life at Coates, what life in _general _was like without her. He found that he didn't want to remember.

_"Stupid girl... Stupid girl... Stupid girl... Stupid girl..."_

The more that he thought about his future, about the _future _in general, the more he wanted Alex to be there to share it with him.

_"Whoa-hoa, whoa-hoa, whoa, whoa, whoa..."_

He couldn't get her songs out of his head.

_"She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today? She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today?"_

He couldn't get her name off of his lips.

_"She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today? She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today?"_

He couldn't get her face off of his mind.

_"She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today? She's goin' away, she's goin' away... What's wrong with my life today?"_

"I like her," he whispered, and the realization of it hit him like a ten-ton truck. "I... _like _her." The feeling, once again, flooded his body, and he realized what it was.

A feeling he was alien to.

A feeling he had never felt before.

_Love._

_"Stupid girl... Stupid girl... Stupid girl... Stupid girl..."_

"I love Alex Lucine."

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_**-grins widely-**_** There we have it! He FINALLY realized it! Man, I've had this chapter planned ever since the start of the story and I finally posted it! :D **

**The next chapter is in Alex's POV... So yeah.**

**If you like Drake, REVIEW!**

**If you like Alex, REVIEW!**

**If you like DRALEX, REVIEW!**

**If you want Caine to freaking come back already, REVIEW, and don't worry, he comes back in Chapter Seventeen! Which is only two sweet chapters away! :)**

**If you think Diana is a jerk, REVIEW!**

**If you want me to just stop already, REVIEW!**

**Ok, I'll stop.**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	15. How Do You Love Someone

**Hello all of you crazy peoples! I don't really have anything to say about this chapter, which is surprising, considering ME... Ha ha.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone or "How Do You Love Someone" by *cringe* Ashley Tisdale. Shoot me. Whatever, I like this song.**

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**Chapter Fifteen: How Do You Love Someone**

Alex passed Drake on the way to her room. His expression was vacant, and he nodded vaguely in her direction as she walked by him. She chalked it up to exhaustion, and continued on her way.

When she got to her room, she immediately noticed that her iPod wasn't in the same place that she left it. Frowning, she picked up the device, spun the click wheel, and the screen lit up invitingly.

It was still on the song she had last listened to, 'Stupid Girl' by Cold. But the song was paused with only three seconds until the end, when she distinctly remembered pausing the music near the beginning.

_Why was Drake down here, anyway? _Alex wondered. _He never comes to this part of Coates. Well, he might've come to ask me something, and caught sight of my iPod... Well, it's a theory. I'd rather it was him then Diana or anyone else._

She sighed and sat down on her bed, strangely not tired in the least, even though it was late, probably around one in the morning.

_I need some time to think, _she concluded. _There's something hanging over my head, and I don't know what._

She climbed out of the window again, this time pulling on her shoes, sweatshirt, and gloves to protect her skin against the frigid January air. Traversing the roof, she found the spot where she had sat last time, and had her confrontation with Diana, and sighed again. The nagging feeling had something to do with that instance, she was sure of it.

Her breath came in cloudy bursts as she contemplated what was bugging her.

_What did Diana say to me? It wasn't something to do with singing... It was at the beginning of our conversation... Was it about Drake?_

The memory suddenly came rushing back to her, playing in her mind.

_When is she going to get to what she actually wants to say? _Alex remembered thinking. Then Diana spoke.

"You really like him, don't you?"

Alex fell back into reality.

_This _was what had been in the back of her mind. _This _was what had been fighting to get to the surface.

She had lied when she answered Diana.

For all of her good intentions, for all of her training sessions, for all of her playful banter and songs she had sung, she had overlooked one very important thing.

She had fallen in love with Drake Merwin.

"I'm in love with Drake?" she asked the starless sky, half disbelieving what her mind was telling her. "How can I love him? I don't even know what love _is_!" She rested her head on her knees, feeling her eyes well up with unwanted tears. "How can someone love when they've never been loved?" she whispered as she fell into another memory.

Her dad's face, gaunt and angry, screaming at her when she did something even remotely wrong in his eyes, such as putting the salt and pepper at the wrong end of the table, as she did that night. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to dispel the image.

"He's gone," she murmured. "He's gone. Along with all of the other adults. The FAYZ took him. He's gone."

Her eyes flew open, fixing on the full moon hanging in the sky before her. Her breathing slowed, and she sighed. "I'm still here. Still in the FAYZ. I never left." This realization comforted her. She shook her head, hoping to rid herself of the last bits of the memory. "But there's still the matter of Drake..."

She smiled as he replaced her father in her thoughts.

_"Momma never told me how to love," _she sang on a whim, _"daddy never told me how to feel... Momma never told me how to touch, daddy never showed me how to heal!"_

When she first had heard this song, she had sat down in her room and cried, something she hardly ever did; she just felt that the song was hers in so many ways. But now, she sang it to clear her head of thought so she could concentrate on the matter at hand. The matter that she was in love with Drake.

_"Momma never set a good example, daddy never held momma's hand... Momma found everything hard to handle, daddy never stood up like a man!"_

She slowly got to her feet and walked to the edge of the roof. She grabbed a turret to keep her balance on the icy tiles, and gazed off into the distance.

_"I've walked around broken, emotionally frozen, getting it on, getting it wrong... How do you love someone without getting hurt, how do you love someone, without crawling in the dirt? So far in my life, clouds have blocked the sun... How do you love, how do you love someone... How do you love, how do you love someone..."_

Wiping away a tear before it could freeze to her cheek, Alex sang and cried and thought of Drake, the first person she had ever really loved.

If she even knew how to love.

_"I was always the chosen child, their greatest scandal I became... They told me I'd never survive, but survival's my middle name!"_

Then, another face swam to the front of her mind, blocking out Drake's. A male face with the blond hair and green eyes of Alex and her mother, but with the cold sneer and harsh glint in his eye that was clearly from Alex's father.

"_Murderer_," his mouth said. Alex breathed in heavily, tears falling faster and thicker then ever. She shook her head roughly.

_"I walked around, hoping, just barely coping, getting it on, getting it wrong... How do you love someone without getting hurt, how do you love someone, without crawling in the dirt? So far in my life, clouds have blocked the sun... How do you love, how do you love someone... How do you love, how do you love someone..."_

She sat down in her original spot, unable to get both faces out of her mind, Drake's, and the one she had tried for so long to supress.

_They're both connected, _she realized.

_"It's hard to talk, to say what's deep inside, it's hard to tell the truth, when you've always lied!"_

_I can't love Drake without being completely honest with him. I have to tell him about Terry if I ever want our friendship to be more then just that. He was honest with me about plastering; I have to tell him about this. And if he doesn't want anything to do with me afterwards, well, I'll have to go from there._

She sighed.

_Who knew that honesty could be this hard? And I haven't even told Drake anything about anything yet!_

_"How do you love someone, without getting hurt, how do you love someone, without crawling in the dirt? So far in my life, clouds have blocked the sun... How do you love, how do you love someone... How do you love someone, and make it last, how do you love someone without tripping on the past? So far in my life, clouds have blocked the sun... How do you love, how do you love someone... How do you love, how do you love someone..." _

Alex sighed again.

_"Someone..."_

_I guess that I'm going to find out the hard way if honesty really _is _the way to love someone..._

_

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**Aw, Alex, so emo.**

**Sorry again that this chapter was, again, short and sappy... The next chapter is kind of short again, and then Caine returns, and the drama begins. Dun dun freaking dun!**

**REVIEW!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	16. I Got U

**HI! I have nothing to say once again, so on with the story!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own GONE, or the song "I Got U" by my favorite almost-American Idol, Blake Lewis! By the way, his new CD, Heartbreak On Vinyl is out, so go buy it, it's awesome!  
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**Chapter Sixteen: I Got U**

Alex walked throughout Coates, determined to find and talk with Drake before the night was over. He wasn't with Barrino, Mas, and a couple of other guys who were shooting pool, and they directed her to the psychiatrist's office which he had converted into his room. He wasn't to be found there, either, and she began wandering aimlessly around Coates.

On a whim, she decided to yank open the gigantic double-doors that led to the outside world. She noticed that it had begun to snow, and between the flurries she caught sight of a figure sitting, alone, on the top step. She smiled; it was Drake.

"Hey, you," she said as she sat on the freezing step next to him. He glanced at her, then smiled.

"Just the person I wanted to see."

"Same here." She pulled her sweatshirt from around her waist and yanked it over her head. "I have something to tell you."

"I have something to tell you," he said at the exact same time. They both glanced at each other awkwardly.

"You first," they said in sync. "No, you first!"

Alex grinned.

"Ladies first," Drake said shrewdly, and her grin faded.

"Okay," she said, her tone serious. "I've never told you that much about my past... Well, I've never really told _anyone _about this... So..." She took a deep breath. "When you, Diana, and Caine first met me, I told you that my dad abused me, right?"

Drake nodded.

"Well, he also had a girlfriend, Janice, back in Washington where we lived before coming here. I... I'm also not an only child." Her eyes stung with tears that had remained unshed for so long. "I had a brother. Terry. Terry Lucine."

"You said _had_," Drake commented.

"I killed him," Alex said, letting the tears fall into her lap. "My dad was beating me, and Terry was there, watching, laughing... He never did like me. My dad said something horrible, he said... He said that it was my fault that my mom is dead." She wiped her eyes, ashamed to be crying, but the tears wouldn't stop coming. "I got so angry. I raised my palms and suddenly, these knife-sharp bolts of frozen water shot out of them."

She took a deep, shuddering breath and continued. "My dad, instinct I guess, jumped out of the way. But Terry was right behind him, in their path. They hit him in the chest; one went right through his heart. He died instantly."

Drake was silent.

"I'm a murderer, Drake," she whispered. Her voice was so full of anguish and pain that it tore at a heart that Drake didn't know he had.

"Why did you tell me this?" he asked quietly.

"Because," she answered, "because I have something else to tell you." She took a breath. "Look, I don't really know how to say this..."

He laughed softly. "When have _you _ever "said" anything, anyway? You're Alex, you don't _say. _You _sing,_ I thought. She smiled, knowing how to word her confession.

"Okay, I might be able to do that," she answered, then sang, _"four in the morning, heart on my sleeve, in your eyes possibilities, I confess this is new to me but maybe this is love..."_

Drake's eyes widened at the word "love". Was it possible...

_"I got to know that this thing is real, that you're feelin' just what I feel, no more room in this heart to steal, you know its hard enough..."_

She looked straight into his eyes, opened her mouth, and sang...

_"In the morning, when I wake up, you're the first thing that I think of, and I can make it through anything knowing I got you... In the morning, when I wake up, nothing else can take the place of you... And I know this sounds crazy, but..."_

She seemed to shrink in his eyes, even her voice got softer. Her eyes shone in the moonlight as the snow fell down on the two of them. She smiled slowly as she sang, _"I don't know where this is, I don't know what I'm in, I can't see down the road, but it don't matter, long as I got you... I'm not the final part, this life could get too hard, so much that I could lose, but it don't matter, long as I got you..."_

She raised her head and looked at him squarely. Regaining some of her old Alex confidence, she said, "I figured something out tonight, Drake Merwin. I'm in love with you. I don't know what you're going to do with that information, but I understand if you don't want anything to do with me because of my past..." She sneaked a look over at Drake, and to her astonishment he was shaking his head and smiling wider then Alex had ever seen him.

"Do you honestly think I'd base my assumption of you on something you've done in your past?" he asked incredulously. "Like _I'm _in the place to judge anyone. I shot a kid when I was in fourth grade, and that wasn't even an accident."

"But--"

"Alex," Drake said firmly, grabbing her face and making her look at him. "That was in the past. I'm not asking you to forget, not like you ever could, but I _am _asking you to quit dwelling on it. You have stuff to live for _now_, and you can't change the past, anyway."

Alex sighed. "I guess, but--"

"You're nice, funny, smart, basically everything I'm not. And I also realized something tonight. I was listening to your iPod..." He cringed. "You can hurt me later for that. But it was worth it, because I figured out that you, Alex Lucine, are a stupid girl for making me fall in love with you."

Alex looked at him disbelievingly.

"You did _not _just say what I thought you said!"

"What?"

"Say it! Say it again!"

"I'm in love with you?"

She laughed out loud and threw herself at him. He wrapped her in his arm (and whip) and held her close. After a period of time spent like this, they untangled themselves and Alex looked joyfully at Drake.

"You have no idea how happy I am right now!"

He smiled ruefully. "I _do _know that I'm happier then I've felt in a long time." She sighed contentedly.

_"Heart beats so fast I just can't keep up," _she began singing, _"you pull on me like a drug, I'll never go cold 'cause I don't wanna give you up... Some people search their whole life to find, what I found now I'm outta time, gotta tell you what's on my mind and pray that it's enough..."_

She leaned against Drake's shoulder and smiled when she felt his hesitant fingers intertwine with hers. She sang the chorus again, then sang, _"think about it, we fit like a puzzle, no missing pieces, never doubt it... I'm writing my story, you know my thesis, look around it... It's happening, natural, it could be now since I found it, I'm not gonna let it go, let it go..."_

She sang the chorus once, twice, feeling Drake's steady heartbeat under her head.

_"As long... Long as I got you... As I got you, now..."_

He wrapped his whip around her waist and pulled her closer. Alex smiled up at Drake, and he smiled back down at her.

They sat like that, boy and girl, on the steps of Coates Academy, watching the sun rise through the softly falling snow. But they didn't catch sight of the black-haired girl watching them from a window in the top floor of Coates.

Diana's perfect lips twisted into a smirk as she watched Alex and Drake.

_It seems the psychopath found himself a girlfriend, _she thought deviously. _Caine sure won't like the sound of this..._

_

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**Dun, dun duuun!**

**Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? What?  
**

**Caine comes back in the next chapter, so review, people, review!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	17. Already Gone

**Oh my, chapter seventeen already? Jeez, time flies when you're having fun. Well, I'm having fun, I don't know about you guys, or Drake, or Alex, or anyone else... This chapter is definitely not filled with fun, but it's filled with Caine! *sigh* Okay, I'll stop talking so you can read about our favorite bad-guy-that-can-make-things-move-with-his-power.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own GONE, or the song "Already Gone" by Kelly Clarkson!**

**DEDICATION: I dedicate this tremendous chapter to my best friend in all of the earth, Ed Westwicker, or Hannah, or Bella (trix, not the stupid Bella from THE-BOOK-SERIES-THAT-SHALL-NOT-BE-NAMED), or Caine! You come back in this chapter, buddy! And throw me against a wall with your gay power hands. But shh. We just won't talk about that. Thanks for being my biffle (best idiot friend for life ever) and not my boffle (best obese friend from LOST ever) even throughout the tough times (remember when we left Alex at your school?), the random times (and then you made me laugh by making me say Wendelin the Weird after my mom yelled at me?), and the hilarious times (and then my mom made us walk home, and we had an awesome time, talking about sugar, donkeys, Harry Potter and the like...)! Ha ha. I love you, bra! (REMEMBER G.P.)  
**

**Sorry about that. Seriously. I just kind of had to have a spaz. She's my bestie, get over it! **

**ON WITH THE CHAPTER!**

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**Chapter Seventeen: Already Gone**

Caine raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Diana had raced into Mose's cabin as soon as she heard that he was awake, for real this time, yelling something incomprehensible about powers, Drake, and some girl named _Alex_. Caine had never seen her this disturbed.

Diana took a deep breath and tried again.

"Do you remember the day before you went to go to the Darkness?" she asked slowly, regaining some of her composure.

"The battle with the townies?"

"After that."

"We went to a cabin..." he said, remembering. "There was a girl, she was playing the piano..."

"Blonde? Green eyes? Kind of a sarcastic attitude?" Diana prompted. Caine nodded.

"Yeah..."

"Well, her name's Alex Lucine, if you didn't remember," Diana said briskly. "And for those three months were you were, well, M.I.A., her and Drake have been getting really _close_."

"Close how?"

"First," Diana began, "Drake tried to make her one of his soldiers, but that didn't work out, as she's apparently incapable of shooting a gun. Then they were playing around with her powers, and they figured out how to make her a whip out of water... So they bonded over that, and became like Brethren of the Whip or something..." Caine frowned.

"Wait," he commanded. "She has _powers_, right? And Drake still tried to make her a soldier? He _knows_ that freaks aren't supposed to be soldiers!" Diana rolled her eyes at Caine's rant.

"We'll deal with that later, Caine."

"Fine," he said, calming down almost immediately. "Continue."

"Then, she came along when Drake and his people raided the grocery store in Perdido Beach..."

"They stole food from the townies?" Caine asked, sounding interested. "How'd they pull _that _off?"

"Apparently Drake and Alex were acting as a distraction," Diana answered. "_Apparently_, they were dancing in the town square." Caine laughed incredulously.

"Drake? _Dancing_?"

Diana shook her head. "I don't know. Anyway, Sam eventually realized what was going on, and Quinn shot Drake in the shoulder." Caine winced. "Alex drove back down to Perdido Beach after they brought Drake back here, kidnapped Lana, the Healer, and forced her to heal Drake."

"For the second time," Caine commented.

"There's something else, but I'll tell you later, when Drake gets here," she finished. "The point is, I saw them on the front steps just this morning, and he was _holding _her _hand._"

"She _likes _him?"

"Obviously."

"And _he _likes _her_?"

"Again, obviously."

Caine shook his head. "Who in their right mind would like _Drake_?" he wondered out loud. Diana shrugged.

"All I know is that you definitely don't want Drake to have a girlfriend," she said, her voice sounding menacing. When Caine looked confused, she continued. "He's your pet psycho, remember? _He's_ the one that most people are afraid of, and you know it pains me to say this, as I hate his guts, but you need his blind fury. And if he, in his own twisted way, _likes _this girl, I can't imagine him being the same as he was."

Caine pondered this. Eventually he nodded.

"He needs to choose between her and us."

"No," Diana said quickly. "Don't let him choose. He either stays with us or you kill him, Caine." Caine's eyes widened at the bloodthirsty was that Diana said this.

"Diana..."

"No, Caine. You know what has to be done."

Caine heaved a sigh. "Go get Drake."

XxXxX

Drake was sitting with Alex on the sofa in his room, watching one of his favorite movies, _Saw II._ Actually, he wasn't even sure if Alex was watching, as she was leaning against him, eyes on a book.

"Hey," he said as he tapped her head with the end of his whip hand. "Are you even paying attention to the movie?" She marked her place in the book and looked up at him.

"Actually, no," she said, smirking slightly. "I know this might offend you, but I actually hate this movie." He snorted indignantly and grabbed her book.

"And you like _this_?" he asked, holding up her battered copy of _Dracula_. "A gothic vampire book?"

"At least it's not _that_!" she said, gesturing to the T.V. screen, where some sort of blood bath was happening. She grabbed the book back. "You watch your movie and leave me to read in peace."

At that exact moment, the door slammed open and Diana stalked in. Alex and Drake immediately scooted to different ends of the couch, putting at least three feet of space in between them. If Diana noticed, she didn't comment on it.

"Caine's back," she said roughly to Drake. "For real this time. And he wants to talk to you." They both stood up, and Diana sneered at Alex.

"Not _you_. Just Drake."

He looked apologetically at Alex as he exited the room after Diana. Alex sat down, picked up her book, and gazed down at the title. Making up her mind, she stood again, switched off the T.V., and followed them, closing the door softly behind her.

XxXxX

"Drake," Caine said in way of greeting.

"Caine," Drake replied warily.

"Diana's told me a few interesting things about when I was gone," Caine said, enjoying Drake's discomfort. "It seems _you've _been busy lately."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Caine replied. "You raided Perdido Beach, getting shot along the way..." Drake grimaced at the memory. "You've been hanging around this Alex girl quite a lot, and Diana here tells me that you've been doing something else together."

"Yep," Diana stepped in, smirking. "Dear old Alex and our very own Drake have been training a few freaks they scraped up right under my nose... Or so they thought."

For once, Drake was speechless.

"Uh huh," Diana continued cheerfully, smiling at Caine's dumbstruck face and Drake's horrified expression. "They happened to find quite a few, too, surprising because of you-know-what... Including a firestarter, a duplicator, and a hypnotist, according to Alaysia Flaim, who's a freak herself."

"That little snitch," Drake growled, finding his voice. "I'm gonna kill her for that." Caine laughed softly.

"I don't think you're in the position to threaten anyone, Drake," he said calmly. "You see, Diana also told me exactly _how_ close you and Alex Lucine have been getting. Does this morning on the front steps ring a bell?"

"You watched that?" Drake roared, rounding on Diana, who, surprised, shrank back from his furious face. He advanced on her, whip-arm raised.

Caine shot a blast of power at Drake, throwing him back against the opposite wall.

"Do _not_ go near her again," Caine growled. "And listen up closely. I'm giving you a choice, which is more then you deserve. You can either stay with us, give up Alex for good and never go near her again, or I kill you right now, and her later. It's your choice, Drake."

He stared up at Caine with cold hatred in his gray eyes. From outside the door, Alex shut her eyes, knowing what had to be done.

XxXxX

Drake sat, alone, in his room. _Saw II _was playing on the T.V., but he wasn't watching.

He hadn't seen Alex for almost four hours, ever since Caine had told him that he had to get over her or else he was going to be killed.

Drake ground his teeth in frustration at the thought of Caine. Life was so much easier when that freak wasn't around. And then he had to come back, find out that Drake had found someone, and immediately take her away.

Drake sighed, and thought of Alex.

After about five more minutes of daydreaming about Alex, cursing Caine, hating Diana and plotting ways to torture Alaysia the sneak, he decided to stop the movie and go for a walk. He took the DVD out of the player and opened the case.

A piece of paper fluttered out of the cas and he grabbed it before it hit the ground.

_Drake, _it said in handwriting he recognized as Alex's, _I heard Caine and Diana talking to you, and I know the choice that you had to make. I wouldn't even call it a "choice", because one of the options is unthinkable. Well, I kind of figured that life at Coates is going to be a little different with Caine back, and I didn't see any point in staying when our time with the freaks is over, thanks to Alaysia, and I can't be with you anymore._

_So, I guess I'll stop now. I really liked the time we were able to spend together, however short. I'll never forget you, Drake._

_Love,_

_Alexamin Aspen Lucine_

Drake's eyes widened at the use of her full name. When they had first met her, Alex had told them that she would never reveal her full first name.

_Alexamin._

Somehow, the oddity of it made Drake love her even more.

He glanced back down at the letter, and his eyes fell on a postscript that he hadn't seen before.

_P.S. I'm heading towards Perdido Beach, if you or Caine changes your minds._

XxXxX

_"Remember all the things we wanted," _Alex sang quietly to herself as she walked along, _"now all our memories, they're haunted, we were always meant to say goodbye... Even with our fists held high, it never would've worked out right, yeah, we were never meant for do or die..."_

She walked quickly, wanting to get away from Coates, carrying nothing except a backpack holding a change of clothes, a scanty amount of food, and her iPod.

_"I didn't want us to burn out, I didn't come here to hurt you, now I can't stop... I want you to know, that it doesn't matter where we take this road, someone's gotta go... And I want you to know, you couldn't have loved me better, but I want you to move on, so I'm already gone..." _Her voice cracked a bit at this part.

She did _not _want Drake to move on, not in the least. But she sighed and kept walking, kept singing, kept lying to herself.

_"Looking at you makes it harder, but I'll know that you'll find another, that doesn't always make you want to cry... It started with a perfect kiss, then we could feel the poison set in, perfect couldn't keep this love alive..." _Alex felt her eyes sting as she sang of kisses. She and Drake never even got to have one, not counting the post-dance kiss that "Rick" had given her.

Alex swiped furiously at her eyes with a gloved hand. _It's over and done, _she told herself. _It was either leave Coates or eventually get killed. You chose what any sane person would._

_"You know that I loved you so, I love you enough to let you go..."_

In the distance, she caught sight of Perdido Beach in the hazy twilight. Quieter then ever, she continued singing.

_"I want you to know, that it doesn't matter where we take this road, someone's gotta go... And I want you to know, you couldn't have loved me better, but I want you to move on, so I'm already gone..."_

_"I'm already gone," _she sang louder, _"already gone... You can't make it feel right, when you know that it's wrong..."_

_But it _was _right, _her heart told her head.

_Then why'd you leave? _her head replied.

_"I'm already gone, already gone... There's no moving on, so I'm already gone... Already gone, already gone, already gone... Oooh, oh... Already gone..."_

As she was singing, she heard a car behind her. Spinning around to face it, she squinted in the the glaring headlights. Somebody indecipherable jumped out of the driver's seat.

"Hey, it's the freak that stole our food," the same someone said.

And then everything went black.

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**Oh my! What's going to happen to Alex? Will she and Drake ever get back together? Will Caine throw Drake against a wall again? And WHO, exactly, is that shady person? **

**ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE, ANSWERED, IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

**So stay tuned, keep healthy, and happy Halloween! (Well, just skip the "keep healthy" part and eat a lot of CANDY!)**

**And don't forget the biggest one,**

**REVIEW!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	18. What If

**Okay, guys.... I'm really sorry about the wait. Seriously. And... I have some bad news. I have major writer's block, like the worst I've ever had... I haven't been writing like at all, and it makes me really sad. So, this story's going to be on hiatus until I can get some inspiration. :( Hopefully it'll be soon!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Gone", or the song "What If" by Ashley Tisdale.... I wish I didn't own my writer's block. Evil gittish thing that it is.**

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**Chapter Eighteen: What If**

"Ugh, my head," Alex groaned as she came around. "What happened to me?"

"Sorry," someone said apologetically. "Quinn got a little carried away." Alex swung her aching head in the direction of the voice, and came eye-to-eye with none other then Sam Temple. She scowled.

"Quinn kidnapped me?"

"Well..." Sam sounded sheepish. "Yeah. He was driving around last night, him and Elwood Booker, and they found you. Quinn said that he knocked you out with a toolbox that was in the back of their truck." Alex fingered the decent-sized lump on the back of her head and winced.

"Toolbox. Yeah. I believe it."

Sam smiled ruefully, taking a seat on the only chair in the room. "So, why were you walking towards Perdido Beach in the middle of the night, anyway? Scoping out the town for another raid?" Alex laughed incredulously.

"After what happened last time? No thanks."

"Oh, yeah. Your team got pretty beat up that time around."

"We made off with a decent amount of food, though," Alex retaliated. "_And _got Lana to heal Drake." She swallowed hard after saying his name, but Sam didn't seem to notice. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Then why _were_ you coming here?" he asked roughly.

"Because I have nowhere else to go," she replied just as harshly. "I left Coates, and I don't want to be a loner anymore."

"Why'd you leave Coates?"

"What are you, my shrink?" Alex asked meanly, but then said with a sigh, "Caine. He returned from the brink of insanity and all of me and Drake's dirty laundry was let out to air by the wonderful Diana."

"Dirty laundry in what sense?"

"I have no idea why I'm telling you any of this," Alex said, "but I guess it doesn't matter anymore. By now, all of Coates knows. Well..." She sighed again. "Drake and I found a couple of freaks still at Coates."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Did you plaster them?"

Alex shot him a look. "No, we started training them. Think "Dumbledore's Army" in _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, _except Drake and I are Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and Diana's Umbridge." Sam grinned.

"Nice reference. So, you rallied some freaks. What's the big deal?"

"Well," Alex went on, "you know Caine. Completely anal about power. And apparently, me and Drake befriending some freaks and showing them how to use _their _power was giving us _more _power, and Caine didn't like that."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "That sounds like Caine."

"It gets uglier," Alex said, grimacing at the memory. "The other day, well, at five A.M. this morning in fact, me and Drake figured out some _things_."

"What kind of things?"

"Basically it comes down to the fact that we like each other. A lot," Alex said swiftly. Sam was silent. "Diana heard us talking or something, and decided to get Caine to break up our relationship, so he said that if Drake didn't stop hanging around me, he was going to kill him, and then come after me."

Sam's mouth dropped open. "That's kind of harsh, even for my brother."

"But remember," Alex reminded him, "this is really Diana planning this, and she and Drake hate each other. And it doesn't stop there. Alaysia Flaim, who's one of the freaks we were helping, she told Diana all of what we were doing, and Diana told Caine, and, well, let's just say it was really bad. So, that's my story. My name's Alex Lucine, by the way." She held out her hand and Sam shook it breifly.

"Wait, _Lucine_?" he said. "Why have I heard that name before?"

"I was in your Lit and Social Studies classes for about a week before the FAYZ happened. When the Coates kids came, I kind of quit town, and was living by myself in this tiny cabin out there." She waved her hand vaguely.

"If you were by yourself, how did you get mixed up with Caine and them?" Sam asked. Alex grinned.

"They kind of just walked in and started eating my pizza," she replied. "Then I decided to join them, as I was bored." She shook her head ruefully. "I don't think a single boring thing has happened since then." Sam smiled.

"I know what you mean," he said. "So, you and Drake... You're a couple?" He caught a glimpse of the hurt in her eyes before she ducked her head. "I'm sorry, Alex, I didn't mean..."

"No, no... It's okay," she said. "I'm still kind of getting over it. No, we're not a couple anymore. We _were_, I guess, for a few hours. But that's over and done. I left to save both of our lives."

Sam's eyebrows knitted together. "But you _loved _him?"

"I still do," she replied firmly. "And I'm not sure if time'll ever erase that. I know you hate him, Sam, and I'm pretty sure that feeling's mutual in his eyes. But there's another side to him, really." Sam scoffed, and Alex glared at him.

"Okay, okay," he said, "no more talk about Drake. I have to go tell Edilio something, but Astrid told me that she didn't mind if you stayed in this house with her, Mother Mary, and me, sometimes."

"Thanks," Alex said, and meant it.

"No problem, Lucine," he said, and closed the door behind him. A flash of pain shot through her as she remembered the sparring sessions she and Drake used to share.

_"You'll never get me, Lucine!" Drake taunted, laughing. Her iPod blasted music as she attempted what would later be known as her best move._

_Her water whip was sucked back into her right palm, and she used a quick burst of energy to shoot it out of her left. His look of exhilaration was quickly replaced with one of surprise as her water whip slashed across his bare arm._

_"Nice move, Lucine." His next words caused a huge grin to break out across her face, and their raging battle continued._

Alex smiled wistfully at the memory.

XxXxX

Drake stormed into Mose's cabin, interrupting Caine and Diana, who had been conversing in hushed tones. He held a wrinkled piece of paper in his left hand and his expression was murderous.

"Drake?" Caine asked. "Ever heard of knocking?"

"She left," he spat from between clenched teeth, ignoring Caine. "She heard you threatening me, so she left." He didn't miss Diana's smug expression, and his mind was filled with blind rage. "Why can _she _stay here-" he waved his whip at Diana "-when Alex has to leave? _WHY_?" He lunged at Caine, who idly threw him back with a burst of power.

"We don't need you with a girl, Drake," he said, sneering. "Just get over her. SHe wasn't that special, anyway." Drake's eyes blazed with fury as he got to his feet.

"I'm going after her."

Caine smirked.

Drake stalked out of the room, slamming the door so hard that the framed pictures hanging from the wall fell, their glass cases shattering.

"Are you going to follow him?" Diana asked, her dark eyes glinting happily. "He defied your orders; are you going to kill him?"

Caine turned towards her, still smirking. "Oh, no. My brother will take care of that."

XxXxX

Alex lay on her bed in the room that Astrid had shown her to. The clock on her bedside table read **3:45**, but she wasn't tired. It was becoming an almost daily occurrence, not being tired at night.

Ever since she had went to bed at twelve, she had been preoccupied with thoughts of Drake. And they weren't all good thoughts, either.

_If he really loves me, wouldn't he come after me? _she argued with herself.

_This isn't some fairy tale, _her logical side replied. _You're name isn't Juliet, and Drake's not your Romeo. He's not going to save you, and you don't need saving, anyway. You're both still alive, and that's what you wanted._

_But I still love Drake, and I thought he loved me too..._

_Just because he loves you doesn't mean he's going to come for you on a white horse and take you off into the sunset so you can live happily ever after and have little blond-haired, green-eyed, whip-handed kids! _

Alex was hating her logical side more and more.

_Well, who asked you? _she thought grumpily.

_You did, _her logical side replied smugly. Alex scowled and got out of bed.

_I'm going for a walk, _she thought. _Stay here, _she said firmly to her logical side.

She crept into the hallway, past Astrid's room, past Mary's room, past the room that Sam was currently occupying, and down the steps and into the kitchen. As nothing of interest was there, she bypassed the kitchen and walked into the living room, where an object of _very _much interest was.

A grand piano.

A smile split her face as she sat on the leather bench and ran her fingers over the ivory keys. She began playing softly, the first song that came into her head.

_"Don't speak, I can't believe this is here, happening," _she sang quietly. _"Our situation isn't right... Get real, who you playing with, I never thought he'd be like this, you were supposed to be there by my side..."_

_"When you say that you want me, I just don't believe it... You're always ready to give up and never turn around... But what if I need you, baby? Would you even try to save me? Or would you find some lame excuse to never to be true?"_

She thought loudly of Drake and played louder, though not loud enough to wake the sleeping people in the house. _"What if I said I loved you, would you be the one to run to? Or would you watch me walk away without a fight..."_

From the kitchen doorway, Sam watched Alex sing with a questioning look on his face.

_"I'm so sick of worrying that you're gonna quit over anything... I could trip and you'd let go like that... And everything that we ever were seems to fade, but not the hurt... 'Cause you don't know the good things from the bad..."_

_"When I say that I want you, you know that I mean it... and in my hour of weakness, there's still time to try..." _

She sang the chorus again, unaware of Sam watching her, and unaware that her voice had attracted the attention of someone outside, someone who had been desperately searching for something.

_"Every time I speak, you true and stop me, 'cause every little thing I say is wrong... You said you're noticing, but you never see, this is who I really am that you can't leave... Makes me want to know right now if it's me you'll live without, or would you change your mind..."_

_"What if I need you?" _Alex sang softly, then louder, _"what if I need you, baby? Would you even try to save me? Or would you find some lame excuse to never be true? What if I said I love you, would you be the one to run to? Or would you watch me walk away without a fight..."_

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around, apologizing.

"Sorry I was playing so lou--" A hand clamped over her mouth, cutting off her apology.

Drake helped her stand up from the piano bench, took her hand in his, and pressed his mouth against hers.

She kissed him back, and for a few glorious seconds she forgot that he was an enemy here, forgot about Sam, forgot about Diana, forgot about Caine. For a few glorious seconds, they were just boy and girl, Drake and Alex.

"I'll always fight for you, Alex," he whispered into her ear as they broke apart.

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**THERE WE GO! **

**Review and give me ideas, please!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	19. Whataya Want From Me

**Hey, y'all! I know, I know, it's been forever since I've updated... And I have a whole bunch of ideas written out in the back of my notebook! I've pretty much planned throughout the entire book of "HUNGER", yeah, all the way up to the end!! So that's where this story'll end, at least until "LIES" comes out... And I had this all written out like a while ago, but then I scrapped the whole thing because I thought it was lame and mushy and OOC, and I wrote this one! All right, enough of my ranting. On with chapter nineteen! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Gone", or the song "Whataya Want From Me" by Adam Lambert.**

**WARNING: There's one swear word in this song... Sorry to all it might offend.**

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**Chapter Nineteen: Whataya Want From Me**

Alex yawned, and her yawn made Drake yawn. They were driving out of Perdido Beach in one of the Coates SUV's, which Drake had stolen.

"Don't you dare yawn again," he warned as she opened her mouth. "I'm already tired enough as it is." She fought back the yawn and reclined her seat a bit to relax.

Drake, on the other hand, was anything but relaxed. His left hand was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were almost completely white, and his whip-hand was wrapped multiple times around the other side of the wheel. His foot kept drifting towards the brake, and he was biting his lower lip, a look of intense concentration on his face.

"First time driving?" Alex commented. Drake's eyebrows furrowed into a scowl. "Well, that's answer enough. And calm down, no one's gonna be out this early in the morning." The scowl didn't leave his face, but he relaxed his grip on the wheel slightly.

"Where to?" he asked. "Not back to Coates, I presume."

"Of course not. Wait..." Alex tapped her finger on the window absentmindedly. "What happened with you and Caine?"

"Oh." Drake seemed taken aback by her question. "Nothing."

"Yeah, right."

Drake sighed. "You, Alex Lucine, are a nosy, prying little girl." She grinned.

"Well, does it concern me?" After a few seconds, he nodded. "Then I'm not being nosy. I have a right to know." He sighed again, louder this time.

"Seriously, it's not that important. I'd just not like to go back there at the present time."

"You don't _want _to go back, or you're not allowed?"

"Kind of both."

"So, tell me what happened."

He frowned and tightened his grip on the steering wheel again. "Caine was just talking... Telling me that I shouldn't go after you. He said that you were..." He swallowed hard. "He said that you were nothing special."

"And do you believe that, Drake?" she asked quietly. He looked at her quickly, just a glance, and then his eyes were back on the dark road.

"No. Of course I don't believe him." He laughed unconvincingly. "When have I ever listened to Caine?" Alex fixed him with a steady look.

"What else did he say?"

"Just that an insane person like me shouldn't be "with" anyone," Drake replied fiercely, and halted the car. He turned to face her, and his grey eyes were wild; full of anger and hate, fear and sadness. "Alex..." He said her name slowly, said it like it meant something.

"You just can't listen to Caine," Alex said briskly. "You said it yourself, when have _you _ever actually liste--"

"But what if he's RIGHT?" Drake shouted, cutting Alex off. "What if it's dangerous to be around me? When if... What if I don't deserve you?" He turned away, and a deep silence ensued. To quell the quiet, Alex flipped on the radio.

The opening bars to a song she loved began playing, and she sang along, partly to herself and partly for the boy she loved, doubting himself next to her.

_"Hey, slow it down, whataya want from me, whataya want from me? Yeah, I'm afraid, whataya want from me, whataya want from me?" _She saw him slowly turn his head a fraction of an inch, listening for her voice, so she sang louder, her voice overpowering the singer on the radio.

_"There might have been a time when I would give myself away, oh, once upon a time, I didn't give a damn... But now, here we are, so whataya want from me, whataya want from me?"_

She was completely singing _at _him now, willing him to listen to the words of the song, and really _hear_ what she was trying to say.

_"Just don't give up, I'm workin' it out, please don't give in, I won't let you down... It messed me up, need a second to breathe, just keep comin' around... Hey, whataya want from me, whataya want from me, whataya want from me?"_

Alex was preparing to begin the second verse, but was completely taken aback when she heard a voice coming from the seat next to her. It was Drake, actually _singing _along with the song.

_"Yeah," _he sang quietly, Alex straining to hear, as he was still turned away from her, _"it's plain to see, that baby, you're beautiful, and there's nothing wrong with you..."_

He turned to face her, his suddenly red-rimmed eyes gazing intently into hers. "_It's me, I'm a freak... But thanks for loving me, 'cause you're doin' it perfectly... Yeah, there might have been a time when I would let you slip away, I wouldn't even try, but I think you could save my life..."_

Alex closed the gap in between them, and for the second time that night, their lips met as the radio continued to play.

_"Just don't give up, I'm workin' it out,__ please don't give in, I won't let you down... It messed me up, need a second to breathe, just keep comin' around... Hey, whataya want from me, whataya want from me, whataya want from me? Whataya want from me, whataya want from me? Just don't give up on me... I won't let you down..."_

They broke apart as the song's chorus played again.

"You _are _crazy, Drake Merwin," Alex said quietly, "if you think that you don't deserve me. I love you." He opened his mouth to speak, but Alex continued. "Now, please drive this car."

Drake shook his head, a crooked smile on his lips.

"So you don't care what Caine said?"

"Why would I care what Caine spews out of his mouth? And why would you?" She watched as he slowly accelerated, and the car moved forward. "Isn't it obvious, Drake? Caine needs you. I need you, and you chose me."

"Caine doesn't _need _anybody but himself," Drake spat, hate coloring his voice.

"Yes, he does," Alex argued, "he's human, just like everyone else. You, him, Diana, you were a team. And now that unity is broken up, because of the two of us."

"And he can't take that," Drake concluded.

"Obviously he has some sort of plan," Alex said. "And he needs you to complete it. But now that we've left... Ah, whatever. Enough about Caine and his issues. Moving on to the matter at hand, our immediate future." Drake shrugged.

"We can't go back to Coates, we can't live in Perdido Beach--"

"And why not?" Alex interrupted. Drake gave her a "well, _duh_" look.

"One, Sammy hates me. Two, and I hate him back. Three, everyone in that lovely town wants me dead. Four, we _stole _their _food_, remember?" Alex winced.

"Oh... yeah. Momentarily forgot about that. Well... What if we replace the food that we stole?" Drake looked at her skeptically.

"With _what_?"

She shrugged. "I guess we could just... Hey, whatever happened to all of that food that we hid back at my cabin?"

For a wild second, Drake let go of the wheel and turned to face her, his eyes bright. "Alex, that just mi-- Oh, crap!" He grabbed the wheel again, the car swerved over to the wrong side of the road, and then Drake righted it. "I think that might work, well, for you at least. Me... I'm not sure if a little bit of food will erase all I've done."

"Well, if they don't accept us, they don't get food. If they don't accept _both _of us." Drake smirked.

"I'm not sure if Sammy boy's gonna like that."

"Either he does, or no food. And I bet they need food pretty badly." Drake pulled the car over and turned it off. "Time for bed," Alex mumbled through a yawn, while reclining her seat the whole way. "We can plot in the morning."

"It _is _the morning." Drake's voice was the last thing she heard before the black waves of sleep overtook her.

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**Well, there you have it! The first chapter in a long time! I'm sorry if it's a bit short... But you know what it's calling you to do!**

**Drake: READ!**

**Alex: AND!**

**Hyperactive Lioness: REVIEW!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	20. Fences

**OMFAYZ, it's chapter 20. I am so proud of us, me for writing, you for reading, Alex for being... :) And to celebrate chapter 20, I have a little SURVEY for you to take! Don't worry... It'll be fun! Maybe!**

**1. Who's your favorite canon character IN THIS STORY? Why?**

**2. Are there any parts in the canon series that you really want to see in "The Sharpest Lives"?**

**3. How about Alex, is there anything I can improve about her? Is there anything you really enjoy about her?**

**4. I need one OC to play a small part! If you want your OC to have everlasting fame (kind of) in TSL, please submit them along with your review! :)**

**Yep, that's it. In other news, I just got my wisdom teeth out yesterday, so virtual chicken soup would be appriciated! :D**

**DISCLAIMER: Yo, I don't own "GONE", or the song "Fences" by Paramore!**

**DEDICATION: Yo, again, I'm going to dedicate this chapter to a bunch of random people! Firstly, this goes to Miss Rouge Apple, who introduced me to the song "Fences"! (Oh, and BIG thanks to anyone who sent me music, you guys rock!) And secondly, this is for Ed Westwicker, IAmCharlie, theaterchick21, Emily, Missy, and Alyssa, who came to visit me! :) I love you guys!**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

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**Chapter Twenty: Fences**

When Alex woke up, the car was driving slowly down the highway, Drake at the wheel. She sat up, yawning, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Morning," Drake said. "I've only been up for a few minutes. Now, tell me how to get to this cabin of yours so we can eat breakfast." She rolled her eyes at his demanding attitude, but all the same directed him until they both saw the shape of her cabin in the distance. Drake parked the SUV directly in front of it, and they both hopped out.

"Okay," Alex said commandingly after they unlocked the back door with a key that she had hidden, "grab everything and meet me in the kitchen. I'll get the stuff we hid in the kitchen, you get the food that we put in that cellar-like thing." He nodded. "Go team!"

They split up, and Alex began scouring the kitchen, trying to remember all of the hiding spots, tossing any food she discovered onto the table. Soon she had a decent pile, which was only enlarged when Drake dumped his armful of perishable food onto the mound.

"There. I think that's the rest of it," he said after he made a few more trips. "To the car?" She smirked, and together they carried all of the rood that was making Alex's mouth water out of the cabin door and stowed in it the back of the stolen SUV. She then grabbed a kind-of-frozen-kind-of-not waffle out of it's colorful box, and bit into it.

"Oh, yeah." She sighed. "That's what I'm talkin' about." Drake shot her a strange look, as she was simply standing there, eyes closed, holding a waffle.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a freak?" he asked, his voice completely serious. She frowned, opened her eyes, and flung the waffle straight at his face.

"Yeah!" she cheered as the food product found its mark, hitting Drake's face with a satisfying slapping sound. Then, she realized what she had done, when the waffle fell to the ground. "NO!"

"Way to go," Drake said, snickering, as he watched Alex pick up the breakfast food and blow on it. "You'd better not eat that."

Alex shrugged. "Five second rule. And what the heck, I'm hungry." She bit into the waffle. "The dirt gives it a nice texture."

He rolled his eyes. "You're a freak _and _you're gross. Get in the car; let's go to our doom."

"It's not gonna be that bad. Sam's reasonable." Drake raised an eyebrow as he got into the driver's seat, thinking of everything he had done to the residents of Perdido Beach, and especially to one Sam Temple.

XxXxX

As they both drove down the road, Drake still driving scared, Alex finishing her waffle, the silence seemed to be overwhelming.

"What're you thinking about?" Alex asked quietly, after the last bit of waffle had dissapeared. Drake shrugged.

"Life."

Alex half-smiled. "Life... Like what?"

"You. Me. Food. Sam Temple. The FAYZ. Coates. Life."

"Wow... That's a lot of thinking." Alex's smile grew wider. "D'you want me to be your shrink?" Drake gave her a look that plainly said "WHAT?". "Come on. It'll be, um, some sort of fun."

"Fine."

"Okay! So, let's start at the beginning, which, coincidentally, is me."

"Didn't we talk about you last night in this car?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, but I like talking about me," she said, smiling. "And I'm totally not conceited."

"Sure, keep on believing that," he said. "You know how I feel about you, Alex. That's the whole "you, me" part. I was just thinking about us, as a couple, together... Okay, I'm rambling."

"But it's sweet rambling," Alex blurted out, and he glared at her. "All right, all right, you're anything but sweet. I guess we can't have typical boyfriend-girlfriend talk... How would you like it if I called you _cute_?" The look that he gave her was more then enough answer.

"Could we move on, Mrs. Shrink?"

"Okay, next is... Um... Food. I think I know all about that one. Sam Temple, what about him?"

"Well..." Drake sighed deeply. "Sam and I... We're not close buddies, I can tell you that much."

"He's the one that burned your arm off," Alex said shrewdly. "Oh, sorry, I think that was insensitive..."

"Whoa, cool your jets, Oprah. Yeah, he burned my arm off. I shot him in the leg. His cronies shot at me. I threatened his girlfriend. It's a never-ending cycle of fun."

"Sounds like it," Alex replied dryly. "Maybe this food'll change all of that."

"And maybe we'll wake up tomorrow morning and the FAYZ'll be a bad dream," Drake said just as dryly. "But anyway, look who it is. My favorite person in the entire FAYZ." For it was true. As they were driving into Perdido Beach, a group of people came running to meet them.

In the distance, Alex could make out the forms of Sam, Quinn, Edilio, Elwood Booker, and two girls she didn't recognize.

"The gang's all here," Drake growled, unwrapping his whip from the steering wheel.

XxXxX

"HEY!" Sam yelled when they got within twenty feet. "You're not-- Oh, it's you two." Drake put the SUV in 'park' and got out to meet Sam. "Why are you here? Sam asked, his voice hostile.

"We have a proposition for you, Sammy boy," Drake said, not sounding at all like a person who needed a place to stay. He was even grinning his shark's grin. Alex felt (and repressed) the urgent need to facepalm; this was _not _going to go as smoothly as she thought it would.

"No," Sam said angrily, "how about I give you _my _proposition, _Drake_. Either you take your _girlfriend_ and get out of Perdido Beach, or I roast your other arm." His voice was hard, harsh, not at all like the Sam Alex had encountered only the other night.

Drake's shark grin twisted into a smirk, and for the first time Alex really felt the hatred the two boys shared; it was emanating out of both of their eyes. "Well, that's just too bad you don't want us here, Sam. Because we have something that you need. Something that we took. Something that we can replace."

Sam uttered a single word, the question that recently meant everything to the kids of the FAYZ. "Food?"

"Yep."

"You have food."

"Yes, we do," Alex said loudly, climbing out of the passenger seat, another waffle in her hand. She watched Sam's eyes latch onto it, watched Quinn practically salivate. She felt bad playing them like this, but she and Drake needed to stay in Perdido Beach, and if this was the way to do it...

"And you can have it," Drake continued, "on one condition. Me and Alex are a permanent part of Perdido Beach."

"If you're going to live in Perdido Beach," Sam asserted, "you play by my rules. Alex can stay. You, Drake, I can't allow in my town."

"_Your _town?" Alex and Drake said at the same time.

"I was elected mayor, so it's my town, yes."

Alex furiously stalked to the car and flipped the volume switch. Her Paramore CD was in the player, and a harsh beat ripped through the speakers.

_"I'm sitting in a room," _she sang loudly, angrily, as she stood defiantly next to Drake, staring into Sam's hate-filled eyes. _"Made up of only big white walls, and in the hall there's people lookin' though the window in the door, they know exactly what we're here for... don't look up, just let them think there's no place else you'd rather be..."_

She walked slowly and with purpose, until she was right in Sam's face. _"You're always on display, for everyone to watch and learn from, don't you know by now... You can't turn back, because this road is all you'll ever have..." _She threw her head back and sang to the sky, feeling all of the pent up anger she had at Sam and his prejudices build up.

_"And it's obvious that you're dying, dying... Just living proof that the camera's lying, and oh, oh, open wide, 'cause it's your night, and smile, 'cause you'll go out in style..."_

She looked back at Sam, her eyes burning into his, unaware of the rest of the kids from Perdido Beach behind Sam, who were looking ready for a fight. _"If you let me, I could, I'd show you how to build your fences, set restrictions, seperate from the world, the constant battle that you have to fight, just blame the limelight... Don't look up, just let them think there's no place else you'd rather be..."_

"How do you think this is helping your cause?" Sam broke in. Alex rounded on him, eyes wild.

"You don't want Drake in _your_ town? Fine. That means you don't want _me _in _your _town, and obviously you want _your _town to starve. Whatever. More food for us." Sam scowled.

"Fine. Stay. Find an empty house and stay. But, as I said, you play by my rules. and if I hear _one _report about _you_-" he turned to Drake," the two of you'll be lucky if you make it out of Perdido Beach alive." Drake raised an eyebrow and retreated back into the SUV.

Alex was about to follow him, but then she turned back to Sam. "You know something? The FAYZ has really changed you."

He shook his head spitefully and began walking away from her.

"You know nothing about how I've been changed."

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**Ooh, Sam, acting a bit emo there. Review, and don't forget the survey at the top! :D**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	21. Holiday

**Welcome, welcome, to the twenty-first chapter of TSL! This chapter is made possible by... Isabella EstherRuth, who GAVE ME MY COPY OF HUNGER BACK! :D *cheers loudly***

**In other news, I don't have that much to say. Thank you, to all of my loyal friends and reviewers, which are basically the same thing... And this chapter has random E.Z. in it! Wow, I'm having a spiel. Moving on, I have two questions that I'd like to ask.**

**1) What color is Lana's hair?! I have no idea. I heard somewhere that it was red, but that doesn't seem right, to me. If any of y'all's know, I'd really appreciate it. And...**

**2) Did any of you know that Orsay's like Sam's age? I had absolutely no idea. I was innocently reading "HUNGER", and it was like "...she saw a group of people who looked to be about her age..." And it was talking about Sam, Astrid, Quinn, and Edilio! I was like; "Orsay's a teenager? WHUUT?" For some odd reason, I thought she was like ten or eleven.**

**MOVING ON! Yeah, you don't have to answer those questions if you don't wanna. I really wanted to make this a short author's note, but I guess that's not gonna happen.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "GONE" (oh, and this is starting like right at the beginning of "HUNGER"!), or "Holiday" by Green Day...  
**

**DEDICATION: I dedicate this 21st chapter to Rouge (a.k.a. Miss Rouge Apple) for all her love and support! (We did it. We defeated the cool-whip with help from our lovely OC's. And Orc and Drake, kind of but not really. And the pumpkin pie, the real hero of the saga! :D)**

**REMINDER: I put up a one-shot, the thirteenth-and-a-half chapter of TSL, where we see how Alex beat the poof. If you haven't read it yet, go read it now! **

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**Chapter Twenty-One: Holiday**

Alex awoke to loud banging from downstairs. Yawning, she pulled on her spare pair of jeans and a semi-clean T-shirt and stomped down the stairs. What she saw confused her- Drake was standing, glaring, at the closed front door.

"What's your problem?"

He nodded at the door. "Sam."

Alex almost laughed. "So you shut the door in his face?" The scowl didn't budge, so she pushed past him and yanked the door open herself. Sam was standing, arms crossed, on the porch of the small house that Alex and Drake were sharing.

"Get in the car," Sam snarled. Alex looked behind him, and saw a Jeep; the Mexican kid (_Edilio_, she remembered) at the wheel. Drake was now paying attention.

"Why?" he asked, his tone equally vicious. Sam's eyes flashed.

"If you're going to live in this town, you're going to contribute," Sam retorted. "Now get in the car. We're going to pick cabbage." From the look on Drake's face, Alex deduced that he would rather do _anything_ then get into the car with Sam, but all the same he followed the other boy to the Jeep. Alex grabbed her sneakers and followed.

XxXxX

After she and Drake squished into the Jeep's not-so-spacious backseat (the seating order was Edilio in the driver's seat, Sam riding shotgun, a kid introduced to Alex as Albert Hillsborough to the far left in the backseat, a fuming Drake next to him, Alex next to Drake, and shoved beside her was a sixth-grader who seemed all right, who had told Alex that his name was E.Z.), they were off. There wasn't much conversation, Edilio's eyes were firmly fixed on the road (as were Sam's), Albert's hands were nervously twitching as he stared out of the window, and Drake looked angry enough to explode.

Alex then patted the pockets of her jeans, and realized…

"Dang, I left my iPod in my other pants."

She then noticed how funny that sounded, and began laughing out loud. The only one who didn't give her a weird look was E.Z., who held out one of his own earbuds.

"You can share mine, if ya want," he said in a laid-back tone. Alex, surprised at the generosity of this random boy, took the earbud.

"Thanks," she replied, and stuck it in her ear, not knowing what to expect. E.Z. nodded and pressed 'play'.

Familiar music filled her ears, and the often listened to words, _"say, hey!" _made her smile. She looked at E.Z. "You read my mind." He grinned back.

As if they had made a silent pact, they both started singing loudly, not caring in the slightest about the four other people in the Jeep. _"Hear the sound of the falling rain, comin' down like an Armageddon flame, hey! The shame, the ones who died without a name... Hear the dogs howling out of key, to a hymn called 'Faith and Misery', hey! And bleed, the company lost the war today..."_

Drake, who was (by now) used to her random singing outbursts, simply rolled his eyes and continued his angry thoughts. The other three boys didn't know what to make of it.

_"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies," _Alex and E.Z. sang into fists clenched like microphones. _"This is the dawning of the rest of our lives, ON HOLIDAY!" _They both yelled the last part, and Alex had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at Sam's expression. E.Z. held out his hand expectantly, waiting for a high-five, and Alex happily gave him one.

_"Hear the drum pounding out of time, another protester has crossed the line, hey! To find, the money's on the other side..."_

_"Can I get another amen?" _Alex sang loudly.

_"Amen!" _E.Z. replied just as loudly, and they both sang--

_"Here's a flag wrapped around a score of men, hey! A gag, a plastic bag on a monument..." _Ignoring Sam, who was now giving both of them death glares, as if they shouldn't be allowed to sing in the FAYZ, they continued on to the chorus. _"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies, this is the dawning of the rest of our lives, ON HOLIDAY!"_

At the same time, they both broke into a mad air-guitar solo, strumming wildly and headbanging.

_"Hey!"_

_"Three, four!"_

Alex made a staticky microphone sound using her right hand, and said in the manliest voice she could muster, "the representative from California has the floor." E.Z. opened his mouth, about to launch into the spiel that is in the middle of the song "Holiday", but the Jeep then jerked to a stop.

"Sorry to interrupt," Edilio said in a tone that suggested that he didn't really care as he turned off the car, "but we've arrived." E.Z. shrugged, and they all piled out onto the edge of a cabbage field.

"Why are we even here?" Drake grumbled. "We just brought you guys food only yesterday."

"There's more then three hundred kids back in Perdido Beach," Albert replied irritably. "The food may have erased your debt, but it sure didn't erase our hunger. So, cabbages." Drake rolled his eyes, but didn't reply.

"Is this the only food we found?" Alex questioned. Albert sighed, sounding exasperated.

"There's avocados, cantaloupes, broccoli, and a whole bunch of artichokes. Oranges, maybe." Alex raised an eyebrow.

"To tell you the truth, I'm starving," E.Z. said, nudging Alex with an elbow. "Ya wanna help me pick a cabbage?" Alex glanced at the field full of the leafy vegetables, wary.

"I don't usually enjoy cabbage, but sure."

E.Z. started out into the field, earbuds in and whistling "Holiday". Albert was muttering something about how many pounds of cabbage they had, and Sam was drinking out of a bottle of water. Alex shrugged. Everything _seemed _normal. She couldn't quite place it, but there was something weird about this field.

It was quieter, maybe.

Alex shrugged again, and made to walk into the field.

"Hey, Alex, could I talk to you for a second?" She spun around, meeting Drake almost nose-to-nose.

"Sure. What is it?"

"You and E.Z. Back in the car. You two were..."

Alex rolled her eyes, a half-smile on her lips. "Honestly, Drake? _This _is what you wanted to talk about?" He raised both of his eyebrows, as if daring her to continue. "You are _such _a boy. I just met this kid, for one. For two, he's in _sixth grade_. And three, we were just sharing earbuds!"

Drake frowned. "But--"

"But nothing," Alex said firmly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pick a cabbage with my new _friend_." As she turned to walk away, she saw Drake's frown get deeper, but he wasn't frowning at her, his gaze was directed at the field, at E.Z.

Alex shook her head and walked nearer to the field. _I'll never get how a boy's mind wor--_ A solid shape collided with her body, and she fell, fell _away _from the field. A grunt escaped her throat as she hit the hard ground, Drake on top of her.

"MERWIN!" she bellowed in frustration. "Get... Off... Of me!" He complied, and she sat up. "What the--"

And then E.Z. screamed.

"E.Z.! What's the matter?" Alex yelled back, getting to her feet.

"Something bit me! It hurts... It hurts... Oh, man, it--" He screamed again, a sound that embodied pure pain and agony, going higher and higher into a keening sound of hysteria.

Alex caught a glimpse of a black mark on the leg of E.Z.'s jeans.

"Snake," Sam muttered.

E.Z.'s arm went into a seizure. It flailed around; it was as if he had no control over it anymore. "They're in my feet, they're in my feet!" he began screaming and jumping up and down like a madman.

Alex lunged towards the field, not caring of the danger, only knowing that she needed to get to him, needed to get to her friend.

Drake's whip-arm wrapped twice around her waist, pulling her back and not letting her go any further. She pummeled at it with her fists, to no avail.

"Drake! Let me _GO_!"

"No, Alex, I won't," he said loudly. "Look." Alex forced herself to look at the ground nearest to where she was being held, and she took a deep breath, horrified.

The dirt seemed to be alive, but in reality, it was seething with worms. Worms as long as from Alex's elbow to the tips of her fingers, and their target was a still-screaming E.Z.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw Sam move closer to the field, a look of pure helplessness on his face, saw E.Z. move closer to Sam, his body convulsing wildly.

She saw the worm burst from E.Z.'s throat. And another, right under his ear.

She saw him sink to the ground, no longer screaming. "Help me," E.Z. whispered, blood pumping from his wounds, eyes fixed on Sam, pleading. "Sam..."

Alex let out a sob she hadn't known she was holding in as she turned away, but not quickly enough to miss the worm sliding out of E.Z.'s mouth, and she couldn't mask the sound of the killer worms devouring the body of her friend.

And then Drake's arms were around her, hugging a bit too tightly, but she welcomed the pain it caused. Alex watched silently, solemnly, as Sam and Edilio dragged what was left of E.Z. from the field. She only approached his remains long enough to pick up his iPod, one of the only things left of E.Z.

The song "Holiday" was just ending. Alex turned off the machine, sticking it into her pocket as Sam burned E.Z.'s body with bright light from his palms. A tear fell from her eye, hitting the parched ground.

"It's the FAYZ, man," she heard Edilio say quietly, in a vain attempt to comfort Sam. "It's just a FAYZ."

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**That's pretty depressing. Let's give E.Z. a moment of silence. **

**...**

**...**

**Review, please!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	22. Gunpowder & Lead

**HOLA! I don't have much to say, for realz this time, except... Okay, so I realize that Zil was at the meeting with Sam and the rest of them. But in this story, the thing with Duck and the pool is going to be happening at the same time as the town meeting is.  
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**DISCLAIMER: Yo, fools, I don't own "GONE". If I did, "LIES" would be released tomorrow. Or maybe five minutes from now, because that would rock. And I also don't own the song "Gunpowder & Lead" by Miranda Lambert.**

**WARNING: I forgot to put this on the other one, so... HUNGER SPOILERS!  
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**Chapter Twenty-Two: Gunpowder & Lead**

The streets of Perdido Beach weren't often empty; usually there was at least one group of kids outside playing, or for some human company. But as Alex walked down Alameda Avenue, she was struck by how quiet everything was... Not that she minded, or anything.

The ride back in the Jeep was a solemn affair. Alex had kept her eyes firmly fixed on her lap, kept her hands clenched tightly, kept the tears held back. The only one who seemed as shaken as she had been was Sam, who let all of his emotions play out over his face, not even trying to hide his sorrow, anger, confusion or pain.

When they had arrived in Perdido Beach, Edilio and Albert left to erect a cross in Town Square in memory of E.Z., and Sam approached Alex and Drake.

His demand was simple and easy to understand; he was holding a town meeting the next day, and neither of them were to come. Then, Sam frowned and re-evaluated. Drake was to come. Alex was to stay away. As if, in Sam's mind, they were a dangerous duo that separation would cure.

So that left Alex, bored and wandering the streets of Perdido Beach while Drake was in an old church, probably being glared at and hated by the rest of the town.

Alex turned a corner and was met by a grisly sight.

The plaza was right before her, the plaza with all of its graves, all of the lingering memories and horrors.

The plaza with a new marker. E.Z.'s cross.

Alex slowly approached it, dragging her feet. It was crudely made; two sticks tied together with a length of string, the letters "E.Z." etched onto the wood. Somebody had put a few wildflowers onto the grave, but they were now limp. Alex reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out E.Z.'s iPod, knowing what she should do.

She bent down and dug a small hole in front of the cross, making it deep enough so that rain wouldn't wash it away, and placed the iPod into it. As she scooped dirt back to cover E.Z.'s iPod, she said...

"Bye, E.Z."

She smiled halfheartedly, looking at the mound of freshly dug dirt. As Alex slowly got to her feet, she swept her knees clean and turned to go back to her and Drake's house. That's when things began to get strange.

"Well, look who it is."

As she was the only one who was in the plaza, she assumed that the mysterious voice was speaking to her. But she didn't turn around, just kept on walking. She didn't recognize the voice, and voices she didn't recognize, she didn't trust.

"Hey, freak, we're talking to you!"

This got on Alex's nerves. She had never liked the multiple nicknames that had cropped up for people who had powers. But she still didn't turn around.

And then something hit her in the back of the head.

She spun around, eyes blazing. "Who threw that at me?" she asked, gesturing at the empty metal can laying on the pavement. "Who are oyu, and what do you want?"

Three boys, shirtless and in wet swim trunks, were standing in close proximity to her, smirks plastered on each and every one of their faces. The boy in the middle, presumably their "leader" of sorts, held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Hold your fire, freak. Me and Antoine and Hank, here, we were just havin' some fun."

"You call throwing cans at people's heads _fun_?" Alex challenged. "And don't call me 'freak'!"

"I'll call you what you are," the boy in the middle sneered, accepting congratulatory slaps on the back from his two-man posse, along with murmurs of "Go Zil" and "You 'da man" and "You tell that chud". The kid, _Zil_, stalked up to Alex, his cold eyes daring her to say something.

"Listen," Alex said, attempting to be patient, as getting angry would get her nowhere, and possibly get her and Drake kicked out of Perdido Beach. "I don't know what you three want, but you should probably just move on." Zil's smirk widened.

"You're the one who stole our food," he said, pushing his nose into Alex's face. She sighed.

"Technically, I was a distraction," she said, backing away slightly. "And what does it matter? Drake and I replaced all of it."

"The freak wants to know what it matters." Zil laughed to his cronies, and Antoine and Hank chuckled along with their leader. Twin spots of red blossomed on Alex's cheeks, and her eyes narrowed. One of the things she hated the most was being laughed at when nothing was funny.

"Are you trying to start something?" she asked angrily.

Zil waggled his eyebrows tauntingly. "Maybe."

"A mutant chud just humiliated us," Hank spat. "It's 'bout time we got back at one of them." Antoine and Zil both nodded, agreeing.

"Then why don't you go after the, um, _mutant chud_ that did it to you?" Alex adopted a mockingly sarcastic tone on the words "mutant chud". Hank's beady eyes narrowed.

"You makin' fun of me, freak?"

"Maybe," Alex replied, mocking Zil in turn.

Zil's hand was a blur until it collided with Alex's cheek. She stumbled back, the crimson imprint of Zil's slap already beginning to show up on her face. "How'd you like _that_, subhuman freak?"

Antoine's eyes darted nervously between Zil's smirking face, Hank's satisfied one, and Alex, who was staring, shocked, at Zil. "You hit a girl, man!" Zil turned on his friend, face twisted in anger.

"And _she _made fun of me and Hank, stole our food, _and _she's a freak, a moof, barely even human. I'm not sure if she deserves to be_ called_ a girl." Antoine glanced at Alex one more time, then nodded.

Zil advanced on Alex, who was practically shaking with pent-up anger. "Have anything to say?" he asked mockingly, his ugly face inches from her own.

_Can't retaliate, _she thought frantically. _Can't get kicked out of Perdido Beach. Gotta hold my ground, can't let him see me-- _Zil slapped her other cheek; the blow was so hard that she fell to her knees.

"Answer me when I ask you a question, chud!" Zil's face was red and angry, he was screaming at her. She rose to her feet, glaring daggers at the three boys in front of her. Without her willing it, water began to come out of her right palm, molding itself subconsciously into the familiar whip shape.

Zil caught a glimpse of it and flinched.

"Don't you dare use your magic water on us, chud!"

"Maybe I will," Alex said through clenched teeth, "maybe I won't if you stop calling me that."

"You can't," Hank spoke up. "Sam'll kick you and your boyfriend out of town!" This was the first time that Alex had heard Drake referred to like that, and she kind of liked it. But all the same, she scowled one final time at Zil and his groupies, turned around, and began walking away.

_There, _she thought to herself. _No fight, just me, walking away like a dignified..._

"Subhuman chud! Yo! Get back here, we ain't done with you!" That was Antoine's voice. Alex clenched her fists together and kept walking, refusing to retort and give them that satisfaction.

_"County road two thirty-three," _she sang under her breath, trying to calm her racing heartbeat as she distanced herself from Zil and the other two. _"Under my feet, nothin' on this white rock but little ol' me... I got two miles 'till, he makes bail, and if I'm right we're headed straight for hell..."_

"Hey, you sayin' somethin'?" Antoine ran in front of her and began walking backwards, keeping pace with her. "If you got somethin' to say, say it to my face, freak!"

"Tell it, Antoine!" Alex was shoved from behind unexpectedly, tripped, fell on Antoine, and they both landed on the ground. He pushed Alex off of him, and stood up slowly. Alex got to her feet, fuming.

"Why'd ya push me?" Antoine asked menacingly, advancing on her with Zil and Hank behind him. "Why'd ya push me, freak?"

"I didn't push you, I was pushed _into_ you by those two!" she spat, jerking her head in the direction of Zil and Hank.

"Oh, so now you're blaming your hatred on _us_?" Zil pushed Antoine out of the way and looked expectantly at Alex, who only turned away and began once again to walk out of the plaza. She had barely gotten two steps when somebody grabbed her shoulders, shook her roughly, and threw her to the ground.

Alex got up from what felt like her tenth time in the dirt that day and sighed angrily. "What do you want, Zil?"

"Antoine waned to know what you said to him, freak."

"I was singing. Not to Antoine, not to any of you. And if you want me to tell you exactly _what _I was singing, then just say the word, _Zil_." She drew out his name, and was met with glares.

"Nobody cares what you were singing," Zil said contemptuously, and with a dangerous glint in his eye, he spat straight into Alex's face. "Subhuman freak."

Antoine and Hank congratulated their leader with high-fives, while Alex grimaced, used her shirt sleeve to wipe Zil's warm spit out of her eye, and sang loud enough for him to hear...

_"I'm goin' home, gonna load my shotgun, wait by the door and light a cigarette... He wants a fight, well, now he's got one, and he ain't seen me crazy yet... Slapped my face and he shook me like a rag doll, don't that sound like a real man? I'm gonna show him what a little girl's made of; gunpowder and lead..."_

"You think you're tough, freak?" Zil said, leaving his two cronies behind and meeting Alex face-to-face. "You think you're tough, with your superpower and your singing and your evil boyfriend? Well, lemme tell you something; we don't care about your singing, if you use your magic water on us you'll be kicked out of Perdido Beach, and the psycho isn't here to save you." He slapped her again, smirking. "Whataya have to say to _that_, freak?"

"I say that if you touch me again, I don't care _what _happens to me, you'll get what's coming to you," Alex retorted, her cheek burning and her mind racing. _Could _she incapacitate Zil long enough to get away but still be allowed to stay in Perdido Beach?

She sighed mentally. _I doubt it._

Meanwhile, Zil had been staring at her, a calculating look in his eyes. He took two steps forward and lunged at Alex, but she had been anticipating something like that, so she made up her mind and sidestepped quickly. Zil sprawled on his face in the dirt.

Hank and Antoine stood for a moment, speechless at the sight of their leader choking on dust, but then Hank struck first, his fist sinking into Alex's stomach, and she doubled over, gagging.

Antoine, apparently over his fear of hitting girls, punched Alex's cheek hard enough to send her to the ground.

_Sorry, Drake, _she thought, leaping up with her water flowing into its whip form. _Looks like our stay in Perdido Beach was short-lived._

"You-you can't," Hank stuttered as Zil got to his feet. "Sam will... Sam's gonna..." Alex's whip swept under his legs, bringing him down. She got Antoine on the backswing, and with the two goons laying in the dirt, all that was left was Zil.

She advanced on him, whip raised, but his eyes were fixed on something behind her, and oddly, he was smirking.

Alex turned around slowly, fearing the worst.

Sam was standing on the top step of the old church, mouth hanging open, one hand holding the door agape. Astrid, Edilio, Lana, and a crowd of others were trying to get out of the church, but Sam didn't move. Alex's whip disintegrated, the water splashing to the ground ominously.

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**Ooh, cliffie! **

**Anyway, I just thought I'd put a little sidenote about Zil in here. This was set right after the pool incident with Duck, so he was still extremely humiliated about that. He wanted to assert leadership over Hank and Antoine, he wanted to get back at some freaks, and he was hungry (who stole the food? Alex and Drake!), so who was perfect to take out his anger on? Thassright, Alex.**

**So, enough about Zil. I can't stand him. Although I hope I wrote him okay... *cringes***

**REVIEW! :D**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	23. Vaudevillian

**Welcome welcome welcome... To the grand twenty-third chapter of TSL! :D Yay for all of you readers, and double-yay for all of you reviewers! WHOO!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "GONE" by Michael Grant, or "Vaudevillian" by Satellites & Sirens!**

**ADVERTISEMENT: Yo. There's an epic group on facebook called "Corn Muffins for the FAYZ", so if any of you have facebook accounts go join it! We can't stop at twelve members! :D**

**WARNING: Once again, I'll say it loud and clear... HUNGER SPOILERS!!  
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**Chapter Twenty-Three: Vaudevillian**

Sam stormed into the mayor's office, Edilio, Quinn and Lana herding Alex, Zil and Drake in behind him. Drake had been staring at Alex for the entire walk from the plaza to there, and he didn't stop, eyes filled with confusion. Alex avoided his gaze, keeping her eyes on Sam, who had come to a stop behind the mayor's desk.

"All right," he said, his voice tinged with weariness. "What happened."

"The psycho freak tried to kill me!" Zil burst out. Sam raised an eyebrow. "Me 'n' Antoine 'n' Hank were just walking home from swimming, and she attacked us!"

"Bull," Drake spat, face twisted into a scowl. Sam shot him a scathing look, then turned back to Zil.

"Anything else?"

"She's a menace to society! They _both _shouldn't be--" Sam raised a hand, silencing Zil.

"That's enough. All right, you can leave." Zil practically sprinted from the room, but not before he gave Alex a taunting look. She had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming at him. "Do _you _have anything to say, Alex?"

"Well, here's what _really _happened. I was standing by E.Z.'s grave--" she saw Sam visibly flinch "--and these three guys came into the plaza. I started walking away, but one of them threw an empty can at my head. So, naturally, I turned around and asked who threw it. They never really owned up, but they kept on insulting me with those names for people with powers. They said that a person with powers humiliated them, and they wanted to get back at one, namely, me. Okay, I'll admit it, I sarcastically made fun of one of them, but then Zil slapped me, and--"

"Hold up," Drake said loudly, grabbing Alex's shoulder. "He _hit _you?" She nodded, and he stormed up to Sam. "That kid _hit _her!" He looked at Sam expectantly, eyebrows furrowed, eyes blazing with anger, whip-hand writhing at his side. Sam simply looked at him, a surprisingly smug expression on his face.

"As I remember, _Drake_, Zil wasn't the only one who has hit somebody's girlfriend. So whatever you're thinking about doing to Zil, we'd have to do to _you_. It's only fair."

"_Fair_?" Drake hissed. "That guy harassed Alex, and you're worried about being _fair_?" Alex walked slowly up to Drake, and this time it was her hand that was placed on his shoulder.

"It's okay," she said quietly. "I'm fine, and Zil's just--" Drake spun around, his furious eyes meeting hers.

"Alex," he whispered angrily, "let me deal with this. He hurt you. He needs to be killed... Or worse." Alex caught a dangerous gleam in Drake's eye and shook her head, disagreeing. Sam gave an exasperated sigh.

"I'll give you two one more chance. _One._ If there's another report like this..." He let the question hang in the air ominously. Drake glared a final time at Sam and walked out the door, not meeting Alex's eyes again.

XxXxX

The next morning, Alex and Drake went down to the plaza, as they had been told to do by Sam. Alex had spent the rest of the night in the room she had in the house she and Drake shared, alone with her iPod and her thoughts. Drake hadn't spoken to her since the mayor's office.

"Is something wrong?" she whispered as they boarded the schoolbus. He shook his head and shrugged at the same time. Behind him, Alex rolled her eyes. "Obviously something's up, Drake."

"It's nothing, Alex," he hissed, putting extra emphasis on her name. "I'll work it out on my own."

Alex didn't pretend like this didn't hurt her, but watched with sadness in her eyes as he walked to the back of the bus and took a whole seat for himself, putting his back to the wall of the bus and his feet on the seat. She did the same, but on the seat in front of him.

As she pulled her iPod from her jacket pocket, her gaze was drawn to a scene happening outside of the bus. Feeling like a creeper, she turned to watch.

Sam and Astrid seemed to be having some sort of argument which Alex could only hear snatches of. There was a little boy behind Astrid, and as Alex watched, he began floating about a foot off the ground. Sam noticed and told Astrid, and she turned to the boy.

By now, everyone (about fifteen or sixteen kids) on the bus were watching. Even Drake had turned to see, and as they watched, something began forming in front of the little boy; Alex couldn't clearly make out what it was, but it seemed to be constantly changing.

Astrid let it go for a few minutes, but then stepped up and hit his arm. The boy tumbled to the ground; the creature, whatever it was, disappeared.

Edilio, who had been dozing in the driver's seat of the bus, was now wide awake. He leaped down the steps and began talking quietly with Sam, and then stepped back. Sam left, Astrid and the little boy following behind him. Edilio boarded the bus once again.

"Um," he began, clearly wishing to say something, but not sure of how to word it.

"What was that kid doing?" someone spoke up. Edilio ran a hand through his short black hair.

"That was Astrid's brother, Little Pete. And, well, to be honest, I have no idea what he was doing. But..." A head popped through the bus' door.

"Hey, 'dilio, man. Heading to the field?"

"Yeah, Howard," Edilio replied. "You're going to the cabbage field, right?"

"Gonna see if my boy Orc's invincible to the E.Z. killers. The zekes." Alex stood up when she heard the words "E.Z. killers", a determined expression on her face.

"Hey, Howard," she called, and the boy looked up, surprised. "D'you have any more room?" He shrugged, and she maneuvered to the front of the bus. It wasn't until she was within two feet of Howard that she realized Drake was behind her. She turned and gave him a thankful smile which he didn't return.

"You?" Howard half-questioned, half-growled when he caught sight of Drake. "Me and my boy don't want nothin' to do with _you._" Alex turned to see how Drake would react, but he just shrugged, his eyes looking dead.

"Can we go back to the, um, zeke field with you?" Alex asked quietly, aware of Edilio listening in. "I mean, if you have room. 'Cause, well, we were there when E.Z..." Howard held up a hand.

"Whatever. Sure. C'mon."

He leaped off the bus and looked expectantly at the two of them, waiting for them to follow suit. Alex took a step forward.

"Didn't Sam tell you to come with me?" Edilio asked suddenly. Alex jumped the final two steps and turned to look at Edilio from the ground.

"You comin', girlie?" Howard yelled from the driver's seat of a pickup truck. Alex turned away without answering Edilio.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

XxXxX

Alex was in the backseat of the pickup truck with Drake, Howard was driving, and Albert was sitting in the passenger's seat. They were bumping down the highway at a safe thirty miles per hour, heading towards the field of zekes.

"So, why are we going here again?" Alex asked lightly, hoping to make conversation. Albert answered, never looking back at her once.

"We're going to see if Orc is invincible against the zekes."

"Orc?" Alex asked, the vague picture in her mind of a bully she had seen from afar during her brief stay in Perdido Beach. "How could the zekes be repelled by _him_? He's human flesh and bone just like E.Z. was, right?"

"Nah," Howard spoke up. "My boy Orc, he's... He's different."

Suddenly, as if on cue, a loud voice bellowed from the bed of the pickup truck. "Beer me!"

Albert dug in an ice-and-beer filled cooler at his feet and pulled out a can. He handed it to Howard, who popped the tab. "Give that to Orc," he commanded before handing the can to Drake. Grimacing, Drake reached his arm out of the window until the can was snatched from his hand.

Howard and Albert began talking. Drake sat there, eyes staring stonily ahead. Alex pulled out her iPod, stuck the earbuds in her ears, spun the click wheel, and pressed 'play'.

_"What's that sound? Sounds like a train, why's a black-caped man knotting my legs? This seems odd, that my goodbye would be the here and now, while I am facing the sky..." _Alex settled back, content to let the music wash over her.

_"Seems like if my memory serves me right, some dames should be here in this place of mine... But no dame, what a shame, looks like I'm the one to be saved... Caught in an old silent film, where the chances are zero for the perilous hero... Can't win with an evil villain, so somebody page my stand-in..."_

Alex's gaze landed on Drake, who's mouth was curved downward into a scowl which was reflected in his cold eyes. Something was wrong with him; something that hadn't been right ever since they had set foot in Perdido Beach.

_"Excuse me, sir, don't mean to intrude, but could I ask something from you? Clearly there's not too much time, if I could get free, well, don't you think that I would? Seems like if my memory serves me right, some dames should be here in this place of mine... But no dame, what a shame, am I all alone in this game?"_

She nudged his leg with her foot and his head turned, but not towards her. He was now staring firmly out the window, away from Alex.

_"This is the economy that leads to the epitome of every continental divide..."_

She gave him a sad look, then turned her own head to gaze out of her window, letting the cool air blow into her face.

_"Caught in an old silent film, where the chances are zero for the perilous hero... Can't win with an evil villain, so somebody page my stand-in..." _The chorus played one more time, and then- _"Could this be my, my last goodbye, facing the sky..."_

Alex listened to the chorus two more times, her thoughts jumbled about in her brain. She had no idea where to start working things out, but she had to start somewhere.

_"Do da doo doo, da doo da da da... Da da doo doo, da doo da da da..."_

Howard's door creaked open.

"We're here."

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**Another kind-of cliffie! Aren't I evil. **

**PREVIEW: In the next chapter Alex meets Orc, a kid she once knew, and sees how much he has changed! That's what's up for next time, as well as the Orc\zeke throwdown in the field, which you can find in HUNGER! So, stay tuned! And don't forget to...**

**REVIEW! :D (Haha, "preview" has the word "review" in it... Which you need to go do! Git, go on, GIT! :D)**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	24. Black Cat

**Hey, all! I don't have much to say this time, except that FAYZbook will not be updated for a while... I lent my copy of "GONE" to one of my friends. So... yeah!**

**IN OTHER NEWS: Who's excited for May?! I KNOW I AM!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "GONE"! At all, which is really sad. :( And I don't own "Black Cat" which is by Mayday Parade!**

**DEDICATION: This one goes out to one of my biffles, Emilee, a.k.a. theaterchick21, who's really close to finishing "GONE", and who's a Drake fangirl just like myself! :D  
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**Chapter Twenty-Four: Black Cat  
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Alex hopped out of the pickup truck on the edge of the same field that, a few days ago, E.Z. had stepped into. The field full of zekes; E.Z. killers. She went to go around the back of the pickup truck, but stopped in her tracks.

"What the..." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. A boy sat in the bed of the truck- or at least she assumed it was a boy. Only part of his face was human; an eye, a cheek, part of a mouth, but the rest of his body was covered in a grey, gravel-like substance. "Orc?" Alex managed to choke out.

The monster grunted. "Yeah. I've seen you around. What's your name, again?"

"Alex," she said as Orc leaped ungracefully from the bed of the truck. "Alex Lucine. I went to your school for a few weeks." He nodded his head slightly, already lumbering away.

"Albert," he yelled. "Beer me."

Alex turned away as Albert once again dug his hand into the ice-filled cooler, and bumped into somebody else; Drake. Instead of smiling like she would have before, she simply gave him a questioning look.

"Hey," she said in a way that was half-statement, half-question. He just shrugged and moved around her. Alex stared incredulously at his retreating back.

_Honestly? _she thought to herself. _Really? After everything we both have been through, he's going to act like this? _She sighed and turned to follow him.

Albert was talking to Orc while standing protectively in front of the beer cooler. "You made a promise to Sam. One beer per hundred cabbages. Now let's see if you can actually do this." Orc didn't answer, but instead lurched towards the field. Alex watched with bated breath, as did Albert and Howard, as Orc put one foot after another into the infested field.

The worms began attacking; seething around Orc's stone feet. The gravel-boy simply stared at them.

"Kinda tickles."

"See if you can pick a cabbage," Alex called eagerly. Orc grunted and pulled one of the leafy vegetables out of the ground easily. He stomped back to the field, the worms not following, and threw the cabbage at Albert's feet.

"Beer me," he demanded. Albert held his ground.

"One beer per hundred cabbages." When Orc's gravel features mutated into a scowl, he added, "Sam's orders." The rock-boy shuffled back into the field without another word.

For the next few minutes Orc picked cabbage in silence. Alex sat near the field, watching intently, but not realizing she was staring until Orc spoke up.

"Was a pack of coyotes that did it." When Alex looked up, both startled and confused, he gestured to his body. "They chewed me up, and this stuff filled in. I still dunno what it is." He picked another cabbage and flung it towards the truck, where it fell short of its goal, the truck's bed. Alex stood up.

"Need some help?"

XxXxX

An hour later, Orc had picked a lot of cabbage, and in turn, drank a lot of beer. They; _they _being Howard, Alex and the gravel-boy, had worked out some sort of plan.

Orc would toss the cabbage he picked towards the edge of the field, where Alex would catch it. She would then throw it to Howard, who would chuck it into the back of the truck. It was sweaty, hot work, but Alex enjoyed it.

_At least I'm having _some _sort of fun, _she thought bitterly, _unlike Mr. Grumpy over there. _Her eyes flickered over to Drake, where he sat in the dirt, throwing rocks into the field to make the zekes swarm. _Jeez, what's his problem?_

"What's his problem?" Howard echoed her thoughts, muttering the words loud enough for her to hear as he caught another cabbage. "I mean, aside from the fact he's a hated psycho." Alex snorted.

"I have no idea. He hasn't talked to me for like a day, now." A cabbage thudded into her outstretched arms, and she lobbed it at Howard with more force then she intended. "Sorry. It's just... Life hasn't been easy lately."

"You're in the FAYZ, girlie." Howard chuckled. "Nothin's easy."

"You can say _that _again," Alex muttered, pulling out her iPod and sticking an earbud in, letting the other hang. "So, Howard. What's your role in the FAYZ?"

"My... Role?" Howard over-handedly tossed a cabbage into the truck bed. "I'm Orc-man's right hand dude. _That's _my role." Alex nodded and glanced over at Orc.

"That's seriously what happened to him, huh? Coyotes ate him?" Howard snorted.

"Yep. About the same time your, uh, _boyfriend _got his, uh, _deformity_." Alex raised both of her eyebrows shooting a quick glance at Drake.

"Can it, you two," Orc bellowed. "These cabbages won't throw thems--" Orc then screamed, a hair-raising sound that Alex remembered emitting from E.Z.'s mouth. She moved closer to the field.

"Orc!" Howard yelled. "Orc-man! What's goin' on?" Orc stumbled out of the field, clawing at his face with monstrous, gravel-covered hands. He had a worm- only _one _worm- in his fist, and he was straining to pull it out of his face. The only human part of his body.

Howard grabbed Orc's arm and started pulling along with his friend. Alex could see shiny tears mingling with sweat on Howard's face.

"Bite it!" Albert shouted from the truck, but yet did not move to help them. Orc screamed again as the worm slid another inch into his cheek. "Bite it, Orc!" Alex shot Albert a dirty look, yelling wasn't going to help the rock-boy any, then knelt and delivered a massive uppercut to Orc's chin.

It was Alex's turn to scream; punching Orc was like punching a brick wall. "I think I broke my hand!" she shouted, watching as Orc spit out the zeke's head along with blood and saliva.

"You hit me," he said dully to Alex.

"I just saved your life," Alex returned, cradling her hand. "Crap, that hurts."

"Beer me," Orc said, and when he got the can, he poured its contents down his throat. Alex watched, strangely enamored, as at least half of the liquid ran from the hole in his human cheek.

XxXxX

They drove slowly back to Perdido Beach with a truck bed full of cabbage. Orc was walking behind the car, and dispite his injury, he insisted on picking up any of the vegetables that fell as they drove. Alex and Drake were in the backseat again; Drake was staring out the window absentmindedly, while Alex and Howard were talking animatedly about life in Perdido Beach before the FAYZ.

"...and the principal?" Howard was saying. "Man, was I happy when she poofed. Me 'n' Orc were in her office when the FAYZ came... We spent a lot of time there." He sent Alex a jaunty wink.

"Why am I not surprised?" she asked, grinning. Howard rolled his eyes.

"We shoulda hung out more in the old days," he said, pulling the truck into the plaza. "Go get Lana to fix your hand; that's where we're takin' Orc. Seeya 'round, girlie." Alex hopped out of the truck.

"Seeya 'round, Howard, Albert." She waved and turned to walk away. "Oh, 'bye, Orc!" She heard a grunt come from behind her, and smiled. Drake caught up to her, and together they walked to their house.

"I'm glad _that's _over," he muttered as they went inside. Alex started cutting up a cabbage that Howard had given her, making sure to use her good hand.

"Why? Howard and Orc are nice enough," she retorted, searching through the cabinets. "How on earth do you cook a cabbage?" He shrugged, sitting down at the table, a scowl on his face.

Alex slammed the cabbage down onto the counter, making the glasses in the cabinets shake. "Okay, Drake. You had better tell me what's going on." He stood up, and without another word he left. Alex heard the door shut firmly.

"What on _earth_?" she practically yelled, hitting the countertop with her hand; her _bad _hand. She shouted in frustration and pain, disgusted at Drake's behavior and the brokenness of her hand. Pulling out her iPod, she viciously spun the click wheel, not caring what song it landed on. She put the earbuds in her ears.

_"Close up, camera one," _she sang along while pulling out a pan for the cabbage. _"The hero sings in this scene... The boy that gets the girl gets to go home where they get married..."_

She flung the cabbage into the dish and began rooting through the cabinets again. _"But stop the tape, the sunset still looks fake to me, the hero looks like he can't breathe, the damsel just left everything..."_

_"You're like a black cat with a black backpack full of fireworks, and you're gonna burn the city down right now!" _Alex sang confidently, throwing various spices onto her cabbage dish. _"Whoa, whoa, yeah... You're like a black cat with a black backpack full of fireworks, and you're gonna burn the city down right now! Whoa, whoa.."_

She slid her dish into the oven, all the while singing dramatically into her clenched fist. _"Oh, close up camera two, 'cause the hero dies in this scene... Your inspiration is the loss of absolutely everything... And flashback of the girl, as we montage every memory, and we bleed out in the bathroom sink, and we fade out as the soundtrack sings..."_

As the cabbage cooked, Alex danced around the kitchen and sang the chorus again, feeling all of her frustrations melt away.

_"She said "get your hands off of my star, it's not your part but all your fault", and this jealous actress has a habit of making things sound way too tragic..." _As Alex was repeating this, she began smelling something burnt.

"Oh, crap!" she yelled, running back to the oven. She pulled her (now slightly blackened) cabbage out of the oven, and she began laughing.

For a long time, Alex simply sat on the kitchen floor and laughed. After she was done, she wiped her face with a dishtowel and stood up, feeling like a human being again. As she poked the nearly ruined cabbage with a fork, she jumped when the door slammed open suddenly.

Drake stalked into the room, his expression strange; vulnerable and guarded at the same time.

"We need to talk, Alex."

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**Wheew. This chapter took me forever to write, and Rouge, I hope I wrote Orc to your standards! :D**

**The next one's going to be more centered on just Drake and Alex, as they work out their multiple issues... Issues which only accumulate as HUNGER goes on! Drama is good.**

**REVIEW, people, REVIEW!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
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	25. Heaven Can Wait

**Dudes and dudettes! We're at chapter TWENTY-FIVE! Say it with me... TWENTY-FIVE! C: This must be the proudest day of my life! ...Okay, maybe not! But it's still pretty cool! ^^**

**Anyway, in other news, I figured out that I really like writing Howard. He says funny things. That's all I have to say! **

**QUESTION: Are there any characters that you REALLY want me to include? Like, possibly make them have a bigger role then they already do in the story? (And if you say Sam... Just no. Don't say Sam.) I always love reviewer-input! It makes me smile!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "GONE", which is by Michael Grant, and I don't own "Heaven Can Wait", the ridiculously cute song by We The Kings.**

**READER PRESENT!: Okay, I don't know if you guys have seen this before or not, but here it is! ... My stupid computer won't let me paste the whole link up here, so... If you want a link to the first six chapters of LIES, say so in your review or PM me! ^^**

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**Chapter Twenty-Five: Heaven Can Wait**

Drake slammed the door behind him and Alex, and they walked down the porch steps together. Alex shot Drake a questioning look.

"Where are we going, exactly?"

"Lana." His tone was clipped and strange. "Your hand needs fixing." She nodded and moved her gaze to her swollen hand, which she had presumably broken after punching Orc in the chin.

"Um..." Alex spoke up after about five minutes of walking in silence. "You know that you can talk to me about pretty much anything, right?" He sighed.

"Yeah. Yeah, Alex, I know that. And I do need to talk to you... I just don't know how to word it. I've always sucked at holding deep conversations."

"_Deep_?"

"Well, yeah." Drake carefully avoided looking her way. "I hate it here, Alex. There, I said it! I. Hate it. Here." Her eyebrows furrowed.

"I knew you don't like staying in Perdido Bea--"

"No. I _hate_ staying in Perdido Beach," he said, cutting her off. "I hate being under Sam's power. I hate all of the people in this damn town that hate _me. _I hate not feeling like _myself_!" Alex exhaled loudly.

"I'm sorry that we can't go back to Coates, but--"

"I don't want to go back to Coates!" he said vehemently. "I don't know _where _I want to go." Alex stopped in her tracks and faced Drake head on, forcing him to stop walking and look at her.

"One, please stop cutting me off. Two, I know it's going to be hard to adjust to life here, but we can do it. And to risk sounding sappy and cliché, you'll always have me."

"They all hate me." Drake's voice sounded different then Alex had ever heard it, and she took his good hand in her good hand and began walking again.

"Since when have you ever cared what people thought of you?" she questioned, almost laughing at his incredulous expression. "I never thought I'd see the day where _Drake Merwin _would care if a bunch of townies liked him or not. But if you want people to like you, then you're gonna have to put in some effort."

"Good." Drake smirked. "'Cause that's the last thing I want."

Alex threw up her hands. "Gods above, Merwin, what _do _you want? One minute you're all bummed because _they all hate you_, and the next you're swaggering around, all _that's the last thing I want_!" Drake's smirk widened.

"I'm a mystery, what can I say?"

Alex rolled her eyes, and her hand had an involuntary spasm of pain. She grimaced. "Can we walk a little faster? I'm pretty sure that my hand's about to either fall off or explode." It was Drake's turn to roll his eyes, but they sped up their progress.

The Hilltop Resort came into view, and Alex smiled in relief as they began to ascend to the hotel.

"You okay?" Drake called back to her. She nodded in response, even though her hand was beginning to look like one big bruise.

"I feel like a pro boxer or something," she joked.

"Yeah," Drake replied sarcastically, "because pro boxers really break their hands on a daily basis."

"Well, they don't box with rock monsters," she returned, cradling her throbbing hand protectivley. "Anyway, is that all you wanted to tell me? Your little emo moment about everyone hating you?" Drake glared at her.

"I do not have _little emo moments_," he said in an incredulous voice. "and yes, that was pretty much it. Aside from the fact that whenever I see you with someone from that town, I want to kill them." Alex stopped in her tracks and Drake turned to face her.

He shrugged. "What?"

"Just because I'm _friends _with someone doesn't mean--"

"That's not what I'm talking about," he interrupted. "Okay, a little bit. But the bigger problem is that when they look at you, I can see pity in their eyes, Alex. Pity because you're attached to _me_."

"That's crazy, Drake," Alex sputtered.

"No, it's not. And you know it. They're never going to accept me as a person, and if they don't accept _me_, they most likely won't ever fully accept _you_, because... Well, because of the two of us."

Alex grinned. "Then they're gonna have to get over it. Because there's no one here that I care more about then I care about you, Drake." Even though Alex could tell he was trying to hold it back, Drake showed one of his rare smiles.

_"Here's a song for the nights I think too much," _Alex sang, linking arms with Drake as they climbed the hill. _"And here's a song when I imagine us together... Here's a song for when we talk too much and I forget my words... Heaven can wait up high in the sky, it's you and I, heaven can wait deep down in your eyes, I'm yours tonight... Lay your heart next to mine, I feel so alive, tell me you want me to stay forever, 'cause heaven can wait..."_

Alex forgot about the pain in her hand for a brief moment, because her mind was too preoccupied with the fingers intertwining with her own. Drake had a slightly far-off look in his eyes as they walked and she sang.

_"Here's a song for the one who stole my heart and ran so far that Cupid couldn't catch him..." _Alex smiled as Drake squeezed her hand. _"Here's a song for the kid who aimed so high he shot her down..."_

_"Heaven can wait up high in the sky, it's you and I, heaven can wait deep down in your eyes, I'm yours tonight... Lay your heart next to mine, I feel so alive, tell me you want me to stay forever, 'cause heaven can wait..."_

They reached the top of the hill, where Lana was busy healing the hole in Orc's cheek. Howard and Albert were standing by, Howard looking worried and Albert looking thoughtful.

_"Here's a song for the nights I drink too much and spill my words..." _Alex sang, and all eyes turned to them.

_This is all kind of like a dramatic movie, _she thought, and was about to make a snarky comment to Drake, when he dipped her like they were dancing and kissed her passionately.

In front of Lana, Orc, Albert and Howard.

A shocked silence ensued. Drake still had Alex in his firm embrace, Lana's mouth was hanging open, and Albert's eyes were bugging out of his head like he had never seen anyone kiss before.

"GET SOME!" Howard yelled enthusiastically, breaking the awkward silence. Orc burst out laughing, and Howard high-fived a startled Albert. Drake helped a blushing Alex back to her feet, and winked at a thrilled Howard.

"That's how ya do it."

Alex and Lana didn't know what to say.

"Um..." Alex mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. "My hand's sort of broken, so, uh, if you wouldn't mind..." She held out her black-and-blue hand and Lana took it in her own.

"Why doesn't Drake just kiss it and make it better?" Howard said in the background, then began laughing like a maniac. Lana rolled her eyes.

"Whatever's wrong with him, I can't heal it," she muttered. Alex shared a smile with the other girl, thankful for the female company. "There. That should do it."

"Thanks, Lana. All right, you, let's get outta here." Drake nodded goodbye to Howard from where they had been talking. Alex shook her head, amazed.

_I will never understand male bonding._

XxXxX

They walked in companionable silence back to town, Drake emanating an air of smugness which Alex firmly ignored while fingering a slip of paper in her pocket which Albert had surreptitiously handed her back at the hotel. She pulled it out as the two of them approached their house, and read it with a kind of disbelief.

"Drake," she said absentmindedly, reaching her hand after his retreating back. "Listen to this."

_"Alex: Thank you for helping to pick cabbage this morning.  
For your contribute, please accept this free pass for Albert's McClub  
tonight. Located at the McDonald's. For anyone else, please bring toilet paper  
or batteries to trade.  
-Albert Hillsborough_

"A _club_?" Drake said disbelievingly, recognizing the look on Alex's face. "No. No way. I can handle Sam. I can handle kids made out of rock. I can handle killer worms. But I will _not_ willingly set foot in a _club_."

"C'mon," Alex wheedled. "It'll be fun!" Drake raise an eyebrow. "Okay... Maybe not. But you won't even have to dance! We'll just go check it out tonight, my pass is only good for one day." Drake growled.

"Freakin' _dance clubs_. We're in the middle of a crisis, and Hillsborough makes a _dance club_." Alex grinned.

_This _will _be fun,_ she thought, only a bit evilly. _And I'm going to _totally _make him dance, even if it's the last thing I do. _Drake must have caught a devious glint in her eyes.

"I am _not _dancing, Lucine."

"We'll see about that, Merwin," she replied in a sing-songy voice, running up the stairs to see if she had any clothes appropriate for a club.

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**Wee-hoo! Guess what the next chapter is? It's called... The Double-Song McClub Extravaganza! And yes, there's two songs in it, so it'll be extra long! And you know what you, my dear reader, has to do to get there? It's a simple thing called...**

**REVIEW!**

**Yay! Now go do it! And don't forget the question and the reader present at the top! Have a nice day...**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	26. Double Song McClub Extravaganza!

**Hey guys! Guess what time it is! That's right, it's....**

**_THE DOUBLE-SONG MCCLUB EXTRAVAGANZA!_**

**Are you ready for it? This song holds TWO, yes, count 'em, TWO, songs! So it's longer then most! Yay for long chapters! ^^ I wrote this chapter without my copy of "HUNGER", which was slightly tough (for me), because I lent it to my friend so she could read it and love it just as I have! And a note to all of the readers of FAYZbook (my humor GONE story), it's going to be on a short hiatus until I get my copy of "GONE" back. It has a waiting list now. Ha ha, I'm just spreading the GONE love!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "GONE" or "HUNGER" (which this has spoilers for), they're both owned by Michael Grant! And I don't own "If I Had You" which is by Adam Lambert, or "Who Needs Air" by the Classic Crime (an amazing band. Check them out!!).  
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**DEDICATION: I haven't dedicated one to my buddy in a while... Hey, Ed Westwicker, this one's fo' you, my irsuave buddy! (And we finally used the same song... ^^)  
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**Chapter Twenty-Six: The Double-Song McClub Extravaganza (Or, If I Had You & Who Needs Air) **

Alex practically dragged a certain whip-handed boy down the street, her face set determinedly, his face the picture of fury.

"I _told _you, I changed my mind!"

She laughed, and somehow, that sound scared him more then anything had in a while. "Drake Merwin, you said you were going to come to this club with me. I searched throughout that house for these batteries for you. You are _not _allowed to back out now."

"I could leave by force, you know." Alex let go of his good hand and faced him, eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Okay then. Leave."

His gray eyes widened in surprise, but then grew dark and stormy with anger as he stalked past her in the direction of the McDonald's.

"Let's get this over with." Alex grinned wildly as she ran to catch up with him. Drake glanced at her, as if giving her a once-over. "Why're you wearing _that_?" he asked, gesturing to the nearly floor-length trenchcoat that covered her body. Spots of red bloomed on her cheeks.

"It's my, um, club outfit," she stuttered. "I'm kind of embarrassed by it." Earlier that day, she had ransacked a couple of empty houses in search of something to wear. The one thing that was of abundance in the FAYZ was clothes.

"Why?" Drake asked, looking as concerned as he could get. "You wore that purple dress to dance in that one time, what's different about this outfit?" Alex's blush seemed to intensify.

"I don't usually wear, um... Clothes like this."

"Like _what_?"

"You'll see," she said, wincing a bit. Drake glanced down at what he was wearing; jeans, sneakers, T-shirt, jacket, and back up at Alex, who's hair was hiding her face.

XxXxX

"And what do you have for _him_?" Albert said, a slight sneer playing around his lips as he looked at Drake but spoke to Alex. In response, she showed Albert a bag of batteries. Albert, still glaring daggers at Drake, dug out four D-cells and waved them on their way.

Alex grabbed Drake's arm and pulled him into the McDonald's. Pink tissue paper covered the menu boards and cast a soft glow over the milling bodies dancing in the near-dark. Drake wrapped his whip-arm defensively around his waist, eyes jumping in their sockets as he scanned the crowd. Alex patted his arm in an attempt to be comforting, but really, her attention was captivated by a makeshift stage set up in the back of the McClub.

"Hey," she said distractedly, tugging on his shirtsleeve. "Hey. Look at that."

"Wha--" Drake began to say, but was cut off by a kid jumping onto the stage, microphone in hand.

"Yo!" he yelled, and the general population of the club cheered. "I'm your disc jockey, Hunter Lefkowitz, here to bring you an important message!" The crowd was quiet, so Hunter continued. "I'm bored of disc jockeying for you people, okay? So how about we mix it up a little with some open mic! So who's first?"

The club was silent. Alex was itching to get onto that stage, but she felt extremely insecure in the outfit she had put together. So she simply kept her mouth shut, until...

"Alex wants to do it," Drake said loudly, in the fashion of an annoying kid who always sits in the back of the class and calls on everyone but himself. Alex shot a glare at him.

"What the _heck_, Merwin?" she hissed through clenched teeth. He smirked.

"Ah, revenge is sweet."

Alex was then pushed from the crowd, and she hopped onto the stage beside Hunter. "So, _you _want to sing?" he leered. "I heard about you and your _singing _from Zil." The last part was whispered, meant for her ears and her ears alone.

"Yes, I want to sing," Alex hissed back, all doubts about her outfit gone at the prospect of one-upping the little punk. "And _Zil _can go rot in a sack for all I care." Hunter's face twisted into a glare as Alex threw her iPod to him after selecting a song.

"Good luck," Hunter said sarcastically from behind his DJ booth. "Hope the crowd doesn't rip you apart, and I mean that honestly." Alex viciously grabbed a microphone just as the music began.

She shrugged her trenchcoat off of her shoulders to reveal black stiletto boots, fishnet tights under a black leather miniskirt, and a black vest over a turquoise tanktop. She winced as noise erupted from the crowd and the protection of her coat fell to the floor.

_"So I got my boots on, got the right 'mount of leather, and I'm doin' me up with a black color liner," _she sang, grateful for the dim lighting of the club. _"And I'm workin' my strut, but I know it don't matter, all we need in this world is some love..." _Somebody started a clap to the beat and Alex slowly relaxed onstage, feeling more at home then ever in Perdido Beach.

_"There' a thin line between the dark side and the light side, baby, tonight..." _Alex stomped her foot to the rhythmic beat. _"It's a struggle, gotta rumble, tryin' to find it..."_

And then, the music really took over, and she was simply a girl singing into a hairbrush, glancing in the mirror ever so often, not singing for the pleasure of starving kids in a McDonald's.

_"But if I had you, that would be the only thing I'd ever need! Yeah, if I had you, then money, fame and fortune never could compete! If I had you, life would be a party, it'd be ecstasy! Yeah, if I had you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you! If I had you..."_

A few kids cheered, a lot more clapped. Alex's face broke into a grin as she looked over her shoulder at a fuming Hunter.

_Ha,_ she thought triumphantly as she turned her head back to the crowd and broke into the second verse. _Tell _that _to Zil._

_"From New York to L.A., gettin' high, rock 'n' rollin', get a room, trash it up 'till it's ten in the morning... Girls in stripper heels, boys rollin' in Maseratis, what they need in this world is some love... There's a thin line between a wild time and a flat line, baby, tonight... It's a struggle, gotta rumble, tryin' to find it..."_

Alex pointed out into the crowd, trying her best to point to the spot where Drake had been standing.

_"But if I had you, that would be the only thing I'd ever need! Yeah, if I had you, then money, fame and fortune never could compete! If I had you, life would be a party, it'd be ecstasy! Yeah, if I had you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you! If I had..."_

The rhythmic clapping started up again as the lights dimmed even further and the covered menu boards glowed brightly. Alex took a deep breath.

_"The flashing of the lights, it might feel so good, but I've got you stuck on my mind, yeah! The fashion and the stage, it might get me high, but it don't mean a thing tonight..."_

All of the lights in the club went off, except for one directly under Alex. With that light softly illuminating her, she sang--

_"That would be the only thing I'd ever need... Yeah, if I had you... The money, fame and fortune never could compete... If I had you!" _The lights flashed back on once, and then dimmed again. _"Life would be a party, it'd be ecstasy! Yeah, if I had you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you... If I had you, that would be the only thing I'd ever need! Yeah, if I had you, then money, fame and fortune never could compete, never could compete with you! If I had you, life would be a party, it'd be ecstasy, it'd be ecstasy with you! Yeah, if I had you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you! If I had you!"_

The music ended, and Alex bowed to the applause. She handed the microphone to Hunter, who tried to start a glaring contest or something, but Alex simply smiled brightly at him and jumped off of the stage.

"That's enough open mic for now," Hunter said, trying to regain his jovial manner, but failing. "All you couples, now, it's your turn to hit the dance floor!" Drake was waiting for Alex by the door as the center of the club emptied, save for a few couples rotating slowly.

"Let's go," he mumbled, wrapping his whip around her wrist. "Nice singing, by the way, although you already have me." She rolled her eyes and grinned, but when he pulled gently on her wrist, she didn't budge an inch.

"We just got here," she said matter-of-factly. "Let's just dance _once_?" Contrasting her business-like tone, she made wide puppy dog eyes at him.

"No." Drake apparently wasn't fazed by her pleading eyes. "I told you. No dancing, whatsoever."

"Fine," Alex said, "then I'll just have to find my own dance partner." She made a big show of staring at the partnerless people who lined the walls. "Hmm... He seems lonely... Oh, there's Quinn... I wonder if he'd dance with me..." Drake growled and pulled her to the farthest corner of the dance floor- the darkest corner- as the song changed to a slower beat.

"I love this song," she whispered as Drake's arms encircled her. "Thanks for coming with me tonight." She smiled innocently as she heard him snort.

"Like I had any other choice," he grumbled, but held her close all the same.

_"I long to taste adventure like the nature of the sea, always moving, always hiding all the creatures from beneath, singing silent songs of sadness, a heart waits for its chance, to dance upon the wishes of my burned up little plans, and I... Stand alone before the night, my nakedness is so clear, in the glow of the moonlight..."_

Alex and Drake slowly rotated in their corner, neither of them quite sure how to slow dance. She laid her head on his chest, silently mouthing the lyrics and listening to his steady heartbeat.

_"Life is old, but so short... We are young, we want more... I'm drowning, but I don't care... 'Cause when you got what I got what I got, who needs air? I don't need air..."_

Alex only caught glimpses of other couples, usually people she didn't know, dancing silently. But then she saw Lana and Quinn pressed together, the Healer hiding her face in Quinn's shirt.

_"My addiction to danger like the rush of the sea, like a wave on the rocks the lessons crash down on me, I don't need to prove the world to you, only to myself, so step back and look away as I dive into the swell..."_

"Are we almost done?" Drake murmured into her ear. She glanced up and saw the humor in his eyes.

"Just shut up and dance with me," she shot back, returning her head to his chest.

_"I'm drowning, but I don't care... 'Cause when you got what I got what I got, who needs air? So take me down to the river like a little child, and take my hand and tell me it's okay to be wild... I never knew the world until I saw through your eyes, I never knew myself until I ripped off my disguise (I ripped off my disguise!)..."_

Alex took Drake's hand and led him through the couples on the dance floor, past Lana and Quinn, past Hunter, glowering in his DJ booth, past some kid talking animatedly to whoever would listen, and past Albert at the club's door.

"Have a good night, Alex," he called begrudgingly. "Make sure to come again."

_"I'm drowning, but I don't care... 'Cause when you got what I got what I got, who needs air?" _she sang as they headed for home. _"I have come to the realization that life is more then what I have accomplished, and life is more then the realization that we have accomplished nothing at all..."_

Drake held open the door for her, and gave her a half-smile as they parted, Alex to the bedroom she had claimed upstairs and Drake to the sofa he insisted upon sleeping on in the living room. She slowly sang the rest of the song as she methodically prepared for bed, brushing her teeth and changing into the shorts and T-shirt that passed as her pajamas.

_"I'm drowning, but I don't care... 'Cause when you got what I got what I got, who needs air? True success is so selfless, so drown in the lyrics of your life, and give up the air you breathe... You don't need anything, you don't need anything..."_

Alex pulled the covers up to her chin, feeling the weariness she felt slowly ebb away as she fell into sleep. A soft voice, so quiet that she wouldn't remember it in the morning, laughed menacingly in her ear.

_We meet again, Alex Lucine._

_"I don't need air," _she murmured.

_But what about your friend, Drake Merwin? What does _he _need? Oh, believe me, I know. I know everything in that sick little mind of his. And I know _your _mind as well, Alex Lucine. You both are _mine. _You belong to the Gaiaphage._

Upstairs, Alex's eyes drifted shut.

Downstairs, Drake's eyes snapped open.

* * *

**Yay, it's done! The next chapter is all about our favorite psycho, as he hasn't had much screentime lately. Later, I'm going to do one in Caine's POV, and later-later we'll get to know Astrid and L.P. a bit better! So stay tuned! ^^**

**I was thinking about doing a one- or two-shot about Alex's past, maybe about her parents and stuff, so if you're interested, just tell me!**

**Love, Peace, FAYZ,**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:  
**


	27. Breaking Inside

**Wow, it has been a while, hasn't it? Wow. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Gone", "Hunger", or "Lies" WHICH I HAVEN'T READ YET! So no spoiling! ;) And I also don't own "Breaking Inside" by Shinedown.**

**DEDICATION: To anyone who really wanted me to update this. Thanks. :)**

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**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Breaking Inside**

_Ah. Drake Merwin._

Drake's eyes flew open. "That was a dream, right?" he muttered to himself, "it was a dream." Even so, the vision continued to play behind his eyelids every time he closed his eyes, a scene encompassing a barren wasteland in black and white. He shook his head and stood up, moving into the kitchen.

The clock on the microwave read **2:34**, and Drake rubbed the back of his neck tiredly with his whip arm as he yanked open the cabinet for a glass.

_"I caught a chill, and it's still frozen on my skin..." _The soft music that had been playing in his subconscious continued, even though he wasn't aware it was there. _"I think about why I'm alone, by myself, no one else to explain how far do I go? No one knows, if the end is so much better why don't we just live forever, don't tell me I'm the last one in line... Don't tell me I'm too late this time..."_

Drake filled his cup with water and took a long drink. The cold, refreshing taste washed away the lingering madness of the dream, but, as he moved to lean against the sink to finish his glass of water, a burst of green exploded into his vision.

The glass cup smashed to a million pieces on the linoleum as he fell to the floor, writhing in agony.

_**Drake Merwin. **_The voice that inhabited his dreams said forcefully, the sound of it so horrible that Drake clutched his head with his single hand, eyes clenched shut. _**You will listen to me. You will obey.**_

"I will," he managed to say through the pain crashing through his mind. "I will, just leave me alone!"

_**I will never leave you alone. You are mine, remember? Remember why you owe your allegiance to me? **_Drake's whip arm went into spasms on the kitchen floor, trying to wrench itself off of his body. Drake's breathing quickened.

"Yes, yes, okay! I'll do whatever you want."

_**Good. **_Both the pain in his mind and his whip's contortions ceased, and Drake sat up slowly, brushing broken glass away from his prostrate body. **_I want you to go back to Caine Soren. _**

"No," Drake whispered, and a green dagger of pain stabbed from his right eye into his mind. "I'm never going back to that freak. I don't care what you do to me, I'm never going back there!" The voice in his brain chuckled darkly.

_**Oh, a little rebellion. Fine; but I will have need of you, and soon. I am hungry in the dark.**_

"Sure, hungry in the dark. Whatever, as long as I don't have to go anywhere near Soren ever again, except to kill him. When you need _that _task completed, I'm right here and waiting."

_**Yes, Drake, I know all of your demented fantasies. And believe me, a few of them will come to pass. Now go, dream. Dream about the future.**_

He stumbled wearily back into the living room, suddenly exhausted, and collapsed onto the couch. As his eyes slowly drifted shut, the barren black and white wasteland again came into view. But this time, he recognized it.

It was Perdido Beach.

The ocean sparkled hazily in the background, outlining the burned houses and destroyed buildings that lined the war-torn streets. The whole town was completely razed to the ground. The spectrum of the dream moved to a blurry figure standing on a cliff overhanging the town, a hazy figure that, as the scope of the dream drew in closer, grew more distinct until it was completely recognizable as Drake himself.

Whip-hand raised in triumph, a cave behind him that was filled with a hypnotizing green glow, Coates Academy even further behind, burning, and an exultant expression on his face. Drake looked down on Perdido Beach, looked down on all of the people looking up at him.

Sam, holding Astrid Ellison tightly, holding her with only stumps for hands, looking up in fear. Astrid herself was blinded, and her hair had been chopped off roughly. A skeletal-looking Diana, manacles clamped on her hands and feet, eyes sunken with despair. All of the freaks Drake had ever met, Dekka, Brianna, Taylor, Computer Jack... All of them with bloodied stumps instead of hands, all of them with terror in their gaze.

As Drake's vision grew, he saw into the plaza of Perdido Beach itself, all of the graves dug there, _Quinn Gaither, Charles Merriman, _next to it, _Howard Bassem. _Off to the side was _Caine Soren_, and directly in the middle of all of the graves was _Little Pete Ellison. _

_"Don't tell me I'm the last one in line, don't tell me I'm too late this time!" _It was that music again, inhabiting his dream. Drake swung his head angrily to find the source, and what he saw stopped him in his tracks.

On another cliff, directly across from where he was standing, encompassing all of the beaten kids in between, was Alex. Her blond hair swirled around her shoulders as she sang, sang directly to him, an enraged expression dominating her facial features. He was about to call to her, to tell her to join him on his cliff, to also be a victor over Perdido Beach, but then he realized something.

Her hands were manacled, as well. She was his captive, or rather, the captive of the green _thing _inhabiting the cave behind him.

_"I don't want to live to waste another day," _she sang furiously, shouting the words to the roiling clouds like a battle cry. _"Underneath the shadow of mistakes I've made, 'cause I feel like I'm breaking inside... I don't want to fall, and say I lost it all, 'cause maybe there's a part of me that hit the wall, leaving pieces of me behind, and I feel like I'm breaking inside..."_

Lightning shot down from the sky and started a fire right behind her, but she didn't so much as flinch.

_"Out here, nothing's clear, except the moment I decided to move on and I ignited, disappear into the fear, you know there ain't no coming back when you're still carrying the past... You can't erase, separate, cigarette in my hand, hope you all understand, I won't be the last one in line, I finally figured out what's mine..."_

"Alex," he shouted to her. "You don't have to be a prisoner! I'll get those chains off of you, just come over here!" A girl was suddenly standing behind her, a girl who looked straight at him, looked straight through him...

_"I don't want to live to waste another day," _she sang, as if she hadn't even heard him, her voice full of turbulent anger. _"Underneath the shadows of mistakes I've made, 'cause I feel like I'm breaking inside... I feel like I'm breaking inside!" _She screamed, howled all of her pent-up fury at the sky.

"Alex!" he yelled, and suddenly, he saw the dream from her eyes. He saw his own face, his smug, livid, horrible face. Drake watched himself leer at Alex Lucine, watched himself spit in her direction, watched as his whip-hand raised...

_**Beautiful visions, aren't they?**_

Drake woke up, sticky with sweat and breathing heavily. The sun shone brightly through the living room window, and he exhaled loudly. It was just a dream. Just a dream, and nothing more.

* * *

**Wow. Anyone want to analyze THAT dream? :)**

**Review!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:**


	28. Shark In The Water, No Floods

**Wow, it's been awhile. Enjoy this little filler chapter (with two songs, yay!) while I write a big chapter featuring Astrid and Little Pete! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, or "Shark In The Water" by V.V. Brown, or "No Floods" by Lady Gaga.**

**DEDICATION: To both Caris L. Clearwater and Valkerie, who mentioned that TSL was in dire need of an update...**

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**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Shark In The Water & No Floods**

Drake opened his eyes, blinked twice, and groaned, rolling over and pulling a pillow over his head. Loud, peppy music was blasting from the kitchen; apparently Alex didn't understand that playing her iPod wasn't appropriate early in the morning. Even though the living room clock read 12:04, Drake was just going to pretend that it was the morning.

He was just about to use his "cranky psycho" voice to scream at Alex to turn the music off, or at least _down_, when she started to sing. Drake shut his mouth. If only he could sing like her- he'd have ruled Perdido Beach months ago.

_"Sometimes I get my head in a dilly," _Alex sang from the kitchen, keeping time with the music. _"Feeling so lost, ticking you off... Now boy, you know me well, said I'm that kind of feeling, that kind of soft, that kind of silly... But when I'm in doubt, I open my mouth, and words come out, words come out, like..." _Drake quickly shut his eyes, pretending to be asleep, as she danced into the living room, holding a spatula of some sort as a microphone.

_"Baby, there's a shark in the water... There's something underneath my bed, "oh, please believe" I said... Baby, there's a shark in the water, I caught them barking at the moon, better be soon..."_

Alex danced around the room, and it was all Drake could do to keep from laughing as he watched her through slitted eyes. Alex could have won _American Idol_, but a _So, You Think You Can Dance? _champion she was not.

_"High in the sky, the song that I'm singing, a sweet little lie, a cry, wolf, cry... Rabbit out the hat, yeah, that's what I'm bringing, some tricks up my sleeve, for noticing me... Wouldn't cause you any harm, I just want you in my arms, I can't help, I can't help myself... Baby, there's a shark in the water... There's something underneath my bed, "oh, please believe" I said... Baby, there's a shark in the water, I caught them barking at the moon, better be soon..."_

Alex spun back into the kitchen, tripping and nearly sprawling on her face on the way, but that didn't faze her. Drake heard pots and pans clanging under the sound of her voice.

_"Better be soon... That is right, rules are rules, this is what I get for just winding you up... Oh, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, please don't make too much of it, it ain't that serious... Oh, baby, there's a shark in the water... __There's something underneath my bed, "oh, please believe" I said... Baby, there's a shark in the water, I caught them barking at the moon, you'd better get here soon..."_

She danced back into the living room, clutching the spatula tightly. _"Baby, there's a shark in the water, baby, there's a shark in the water, baby, there's a shark in the water, better be soon..." _She finished with a flourish, and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Perdido Beach!" Alex turned to go back into the kitchen, but was halted in her tracks by the sound of clapping hands. She whirled around, finally noticing the definitely _not _asleep Drake, sitting up and smirking.

"We have a winner," he said snidely, standing up and raising Alex's arm. Her face was as red as a tomato. Redder, if that was possible. "Your new Miss Perdido Beach, Alex Lucine!"

"Shut up," she grumbled, pulling her arm back. "You were supposed to be asleep." He raised both eyebrows as far as they could go.

"Me? Sleep through a performance of... Who are you? My Chemical Alex? Fall Out Alex? Lady AlAl?" Alex's head fell into her hands.

"Just shut up." Her voice sounded muffled. "And I'm the Black Eyed Alex, thank you very much." He snickered.

"All Time Alex. The Classic Alex. Cobra Alexship."

"Drakeplay," she retaliated. "Flogging Drake. Ladydrake. Drakette. Forever The Sickest _Drake_." He held up his hands in surrender.

"And what were you doing in the kitchen, Miss I-Memorize-My-iTunes-Library?" Her face twisted into a rather frightening grin, and she pulled him after her into the next room, the kitchen.

XxXxX

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a fantastic cook?" Drake asked as he ate another spoonful of the breakfast Alex had cooked for the two of them. She smiled happily.

"No, actually."

"Well, good. 'Cause you're not. I mean, I know ingredients are pretty much a thing of the past, but I think you can do better then _burnt cabbage._" Her lower lip drooped.

"You're lucky you're getting anything at all."

Drake grimaced and dug his spoon into his slice of cabbage once again. Alex rolled her eyes. "You wanna hear something I've been working on?" His spoon fell to the floor as he pushed his chair back and stood immediately. "I'll take that as a yes."

_Anything to get away from that cabbage._

XxXxX

Alex pulled out the bench of the old upright piano that she had found in their attic and cleaned off. "I hope this sounds okay." Her voice had a tinge of worry to it. "I haven't played it for anybody, yet." Drake crossed his arm and whip, waiting. Alex cracked her knuckles and pressed down on the keys, fingers dancing with a practiced rhythm.

_"I'd never, ever thought I'd live away," _she sang, _"from everybody that I'd love and say "goodbye"... Now, I'm the princess of a downtown train, where everybody here they know my game, but when I walk down the street I hear them say, "there she goes, that crazy girl... She thinks she's something in this world..." So I'mma close my ears and dream, 'cause life is never really what it seems... In every mystery there's a truth, you know I'm telling, I'm telling you-u, oh, oh..."_

She took a deep breath. _"No matter lightning or thunder, buckets of rainwater, you can't flood this town... In a world unknown, you've got to hold your own, and you can't stop me, you're never, ever, ever gonna stop me, now..."_

Alex's fingers practically flew over the keys, picking out complicated riffs and melodies. _"On every street there is a memory, a time and place that we can never be, again... Street lights glow red, green and yellow, too, the do-not signs tell you what to do, yeah, when you stay "stop" be sure that I say "go" to the stars and land... Fire can't burn these hands... But I just close my eyes and dream, you can't deny me my astronomy, hey!"_

Alex wanted to look at Drake, but she didn't; keeping her eyes on the keys. _In every mystery __there's a truth, you know I'm telling, I'm telling you-u, oh, oh... __No matter lightning or thunder, buckets of rainwater, you can't flood this town... In a world unknown, you've got to hold your own, and you can't stop me, you're never, ever, ever gonna stop me, now..." _For the longest time, she just let her mind go, and just played whatever melodies came to her. Then, remembering she had an audience, she got back on track.

_"Go ahead and don't believe, 'cause everyone needs a way to breathe, and love, and dream, and you can't stop me, you can't stop me! __No matter lightning or thunder, buckets of rainwater, you can't flood this town... In a world unknown, you've got to hold your own, and you can't stop me, you're never, ever, ever gonna stop me, now!"_

She slammed the final note and stood up, propelled by adrenaline. Drake was still there, a small, strange smile on his lips. "Well?" she demanded. "Did you like it?" His smile grew.

"You wrote that, didn't you?"

"Well, um, yeah!" she blustered. "Why? Was it horrid? How could you tell?" He shut up her anal ramblings for a moment by kissing her lightly on the lips. Alex reeled back, shocked. That was pretty much the first really affectionate thing he had done for her.

"It was really good," he said, "and the reason I could tell that you wrote it, was... Well, it sounded like you. It sounded _Alexy._"

"Really?"

"Yeah. And Alexy is a good thing." She leaned back in for another kiss, and he gladly gave it to her. "A very good thing."

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**Sorry if it was a little mushy, I just really felt like writing a cute one :)**

**Review, please!**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:**


	29. Ours

**Wow, it's been forever. I don't even know how many of you awesome readers still come on here! But I'm sorry about all of the wait; I'm writing an original thing, and fanfic kind of fell by the wayside :( But hopefully you all like this!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Ours" by Taylor Swift or GONE.**

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Ours**

Alex knocked on the large oak door of Astrid's house, two medium-sized cabbages in hand. As soon as the blond opened the door, she grinned in relief.

"Thank God. I thought I was going to starve!"

She ushered Alex inside, grabbing the cabbages from her. "Petey's already in bed- he doesn't eat much anyway, but I've been trying to give him all he can get down. That doesn't leave much for me, though, but Sam said he was sending some over..." She pulled a butcher knife from one of the drawers, hacking one of the vegetables in half. "Do you want some?"

Alex shook her head. "I already ate with Drake, thanks."

Astrid's eyes narrowed. "I see."

"I brought you some of our salt," Alex went on after an awkward silence, pulling the baggie out of her back pocket. "I heard it was running out." Astrid brushed by her on the way to the oven, almost knocking her over.

"I don't need your salt," she hissed, sliding the cabbage into the oven. "Sit down."

Taken aback by Astrid's harsh tone, Alex fell into one of the kitchen chairs. Silently and deliberately, Astrid settled into the one across from her, folding her hands. "Um, Astrid?" Alex questioned. "If you don't want me to eat with you, and you don't want my salt, then why am I still here?"

"Because. I want to talk to you."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

"You and Drake," Astrid began. Alex mentally rolled her eyes.

_Not this again._

"Are you two happy together?"

Alex glanced up quickly. _Not what I expected..._

"Um, yeah. Yes, yes we are. Thanks, Astrid, I guess, for asking..." The blond genius stood and took the cabbage from out of the oven, spearing it with a fork.

"How?"

"Well," Alex stalled, taken aback yet again. "You should know, shouldn't you? You're dating Sam, aren't you?" Astrid held the fork in front of her threataningly, pointing it straight at Alex. It shook a little bit, and Astrid's blue eyes flashed.

"Don't you dare compare the two of _you_ to Sam and I. _Ever_."

Alex held her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, fine. Sorry. Sam and Drake are very different people."

"Drake isn't even a person," Astrid shot back, pushing her untouched cabbage away, standing up again. Alex also stood, fists clenched.

"Uncalled for, genius girl," she snarled.

"It wasn't _called for _when Drake burned my house," Astrid returned. "He's not a good guy, Alex. He's not like Sam. He'll only end up hurting you!"

"Don't tell me what to do or how to live, Astrid," Alex said angrily. "I know the risks of running with Drake. And believe me, he knows the risks of running with me. _I love him, Astrid._ Don't you people _get _that? I understand that he's done some horrible things, but can't you put it behind you and see what he's doing _now_? He picked that cabbage with Howard, Orc and I today. Tomorrow we're going out to that zeke feild again. I don't see _you_ putting your life on the line to feed everyone! So shut up!"

Alex paused, breathing heavily. Astrid shot a cold glare at her, which was interrupted by a wail from upstairs.

"Petey," Astrid deadpanned. "I'll be right back, and don't you go anywhere."

She exited, and Alex fell back into the chair, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. She hadn't _meant_ to freak out and attack Astrid, but what else could she do? People wouldn't listen when she told them that Drake might be able to change if they just gave him a chance.

One small chance, that's all he needed.

That's what _she _had given him.

_"Elevator buttons in morning air," _she sang quietly. _"Stranger's silence makes me want to take the stairs. If you were here, we'd laugh about their vacant stares, but right now, my time is theirs..." _Astrid quietly leaned against the entrance to the kitchen, out of sight in the shadows, and listened.

_"Seems like there's always someone that dissaproves... They'll judge it like they know about me and you... And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do, the jury's out, but my choice is you..."_

Alex stood and began wandering around the kitchen, staring up at the ceiling. _"So don't you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine, and life makes love look hard... The stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours."_

Astrid closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the plaster wall. This was so wrong. Drake was _evil. _How could anyone feel this way about _him_?

_"You never know what people have up their sleeves... Ghosts from your past gonna jump out at me... Lurking in the shadows with their lip gloss smiles, but I don't care, 'cause right now you're mine... And you'll say don't you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine, and life makes love look hard... The stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours."_

_"And it's not theirs to speculate if it's wrong and, your hands are tough but they are where mine belong and, I'll fight their doubt and give you faith with this song for you... 'Cause I love the whiteness of your teeth, and I love the riddles that you speak, and any snide remarks from them about you, will be ignored, 'cause my heart is yours..."_

Astrid squeezed her eyes shut harder. She could hear the jeers, see their laughing faces...

_"School Bus Sam. He's gonna save us, yah!"_

_"He's the big hero. Why can't he protect us?"_

_"He can't even feed us, let alone save us."_

And then she would step in, whispering the same words that Alex was singing in the kitchen.

_"Ignore them... I love you."_

_"So don't you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine, and life makes love look hard... So don't you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine, and they can't take what's ours... __They can't take what's ours..."_

_"The stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours."_

"Astrid." Alex's voice sounded harsh after the sound of her singing. "I know you're there."

Ashamed, the blond came from around the corner. Alex's face was hard-set, and her green eyes flashed.

"I thought about what you said, and I came to a conclusion." Astrid's face brightened a little.

"Oh, good. I hope that you-"

"You and Sam shut your mouths about Drake, or there'll be hell to pay."

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**I hope you liked it :)**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:**


	30. The Dog Days Are Over

Happy new year! I can't believe it's 2011 already... And I haven't updated in forever! That original story is still inhabiting my mind, and probably will for the rest of my life... But no matter! I decided to kick off this new year with a little fanfiction, so, enjoy!

**DISCLAIMER: Yup. Don't own Florence + The Machine. (But go listen to them, seriously.) Don't own Gone. Only Alex. And I'm pretty proud to say that I own her. :)**

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**Chapter Thirty: The Dog Days Are Over**

"Here's my proposition."

It was Albert's voice, whispering like he had a secret, so naturally, Drake stopped and listened in. There was a weird smell in the air, tangy and a little nasty smelling, but kind of good, nevertheless. Albert and whoever he was talking to were right around the corner. Drake leaned against the wall.

"I give you six of my best guys, the most reliable people I can come up with. You take them, teach them to fish."

Wait... _Fish?_

That was the smell! Albert was talking about fish. There was _fish._

Drake's stomach rumbled at the mere thought of fish. He had hated fish back at Coates; Fish Tuesday used to be the most dreaded day of the week, but now... Now he would kill for even a raw piece.

He could... He could just barge in there and steal it. Knock Albert and his buddy out for a while, maybe forever...

Drake shook his head. That wasn't an option anymore.

"And you and me," Albert continued, "we work as partners in the fish business. You get thirty percent, I get seventy."

"Why do I only get thirty?" That was Quinn's voice. Quinn had found the fish... Quinn was going to be a hero. Drake ground his teeth, the smell of the fish even more pungent in the air.

"Because I have to pay everyone under me," Albert explained. "Your thirty is only for you."

"Yeah, thirty percent of nothing," Quinn grumbled.

"Now. But just wait... We have fish."

Drake stepped out from behind the corner. "So that's what I was smelling." He tried to make his voice innocent, like he hadn't been eavesdropping, but he couldn't help but smirk at the shocked and terrified faces on both Albert and Quinn. "So, you guys are starting a fishing business."

"I... I guess." Albert stood up straight and cleared his throat.

"And I want in," Drake said slowly. Quinn's eyes widened.

"No!"

"Yes," Drake argued. "I hate working in those zeke fields. Even fish are better than cabbage."

"Maybe I'd let you be one of my guys if you _weren't _a crazy psycho," Quinn shot back. "You're gonna kill all of us once we set out on our first trip!"

"Yes, 'cause I've killed so many people since I've started living here." Drake's voice was dry and humorless. "C'mon, man. I don't want to kill any of you, unless you're Caine, or Diana. And we're all starving. And I can help."

"There's a lot of guys who I bet could fish a lot better than you. I caught _that_." Quinn gestured to a large fish laying on a McDonald's booth. "D'you think _you _could do that?"

"Without a pole or a net." Drake snapped his whip, looking smug. "I have a built-in fishing pole_ and _lure right here."

Albert glanced at Quinn.

Quinn glanced back and sighed loudly.

"He's gonna kill us..." he sing-songed. Drake made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat.

"If I wanted to kill you I would have already. _And _had time to bury your body. You're not _that _far up on the hit list, Quinny. You're not that important yet."

Quinn rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Meet at the dock at five thirty tomorrow morning. You're getting the rest of the guys, Albert?"

"Yep," Albert replied as Drake saluted sarcastically and headed for the door.

XxXxX

"You're _what_?"

"Fishing. Tomorrow morning."

"Oh my great granny, Drake."

"What?"

"You're making _friends_!"

"Quinn is not my _friend_."

Alex laughed. "It's a start, though. And with me bringing home cabbage, and you bringing home fish, we might actually have a decent meal for the first time in ever!"

Drake cracked a tiny smile at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, I guess." Alex practically threw her iPod onto the dock, pressing _play _like her life depended on it. "You have a song for every situation, don't you?"

"It's my thing," she replied. "And just think about it! We're here, without Caine, or Diana. Sam doesn't bother us, we have friends, we have each other."

"We have no food," he argued. "And, to be frank, we stink."

"But we have a lot anyway." She grabbed his hand and practically forced him to twirl her, dance-style.

"You're crazy." His voice slipped, and she knew he was smiling.

_"Happiness, it hurt, like a train on a track..." _She started singing along with the music, ignoring as Drake rolled his eyes good-naturedly. _"Coming towards her, stuck still, no turning back... She hid around corners, and she hid under beds; she killed it with kisses and from it she fled..." _Drake wrapped his whip-arm around her waist and really did spin her, so fast and so hard that she stumbled, but never missed a beat. _"With every bubble she sank with a drink, and washed it away down the kitchen sink..." _

_"The dog days are over, the dog days are done," _she sang quietly, leaning her head lightly on his chest. _"The horses are coming, so you'd better run..."_

_"Run fast for your mother and fast for your father, run for your children, for your sisters and brothers!" _Alex threw herself off of Drake and danced around the house like a maniac, singing wildly to the ceiling. He followed, not quite sure of what to do, until she took his hand and spun _him_. _"Leave all your love and your longing behind, you can't carry it with you if you want to survive!"_

"Yes you can!" he yelled and swept her off her feet.

XxXxX

_"The dog days are over, the dog days are done! Can you hear the horses, 'cause here they come!"_

Alex steadily threw cabbages over her shoulder for Howard to catch and put in the back of the truck, singing loudly and brazenly. Orc would sometimes shuffle and stomp his feet to the rhythm, and she sometimes even caught Howard humming along.

_"And I never wanted anything from you, except everything you had... And what was left after that too, oh... Happiness, it hurt, like a bullet in the mind! Suck them up, drainpipes, by someone who should know better than that!"_

Drake dangled his whip-hand in the cool blue water, mesmerized by the lapping of the waves on the boat's side. He was singing to himself, almost mouthing the words as he waited for a nibble.

"Dude, are you singing?"

Drake turned to face Quinn. "So what if I was?"

"Okay, okay, brah. Just wondering."

_"The dog days are over, the dog days are done! Can you hear the horses, 'cause here they come!"_

Alex threw her head back and laughed at the sky, not caring that Howard was looking at her as though she should be committed to an insane asylum.

"What's wrong with you, girlie?"

"Nothing." She smiled. "Nothing at all."

_"Run fast for your mother and fast for your father, run for your children, for your sisters and brothers! Leave all your love and your longing behind, you can't carry it with you if you want to survive! The dog days are over, the dog days are done! Can you hear the horses, 'cause here they come!"_

_"The dog days are over, the dog days are done! (Here they come!) The horses are coming, so you'd better run! (Here they come!) The dog days are over, the dog days are done! (Here they come!) The horses are coming, so you'd better run!"_

_

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_**Wow, I'm sorry. I promise we'll get some plot in there eventually.**

**Review, please!**

**XoXo,**

**:Hyperactive Lioness:**


	31. Hungry Heart, Breathe Me

**Wow. Okay. It's been a while. It's been longer than a while. It's been two years, haha. I was seventeen when I last updated this story, and now I'm almost twenty. Honestly, reading it back, it could use a lot of work. Alex is kind of a Mary Sue, and Drake really shouldn't have a girlfriend. Ever. Maybe one day I'll come back and re-write this story, but for now, I feel like I should add another chapter. Meh, how bad could it really be? I don't even think any of my old readers are on this site anymore, so I hope you new readers like this; sorry about the overdone concept of Drake-And-A-Girl.**

**So here it is; more TSL, two years later.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gone, that's Michael Grant. And I don't own the songs either, that's Bruce Springsteen and Sia.**

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**Chapter Thirty-One: Hungry Hearts/Breathe Me**

There were lights.

Harsh, glaring streetlamps. The warm glow of lit homes. Orsay hadn't seen any of that in so long. She couldn't handle it anymore; hiding in the forest, living off of what she could find, the lack of dreams.

And in the end, it wasn't her growling stomach or her parched lips that drew her towards Perdido Beach; it was the promise of dreaming kids.

Because Orsay Pettijohn could invade dreams, and it invigorated her like nothing ever had.

Creeping around the town's border, Orsay avoided the houses with lights on, finally coming to a more secluded, larger house with a spacious back porch. This is where Orsay settled herself, knowing, somehow, that there were two sleeping people inside; two dreaming people.

She slumped against the side of the house, and allowed herself to be swallowed up into somebody else's head.

XxXxX

_"Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack... I went out for a ride, and I never went back..." _

Orsay recognized the song, it was some old Bruce Springsteen that her dad used to sing along to whenever it came on the radio. It was coming from a room down the hall in the dream-house she had landed in.

The hallway was painted a light blue, brightly-lit, and airy. It smelled like the beach, a clean, salty smell that instantly relaxed her.

This was a good dream, she could feel it.

_"Like a river that don't know where it's flowing, I took a wrong turn and I just kept going..."_

She wandered down the hallway, following the music. Feeling a bit like an intruder, albeit an invisible one, she peeked through the cracked door.

The first thing in her line of vision was a huge window, covering most of the far wall. The view through it was incredible; a white sand beach, blue-green ocean, slowly rising sun. It looked like nothing Orsay had ever seen before, and it was beautiful.

Underneath the window was a large bed. The sheets were crisp, white, and clean, and a blue comforter was cocooning the two people nestled in the bed, a girl and a boy.

_"Everybody's got a hungry heart, everybody's got a hungry heart; lay down your money and you play your part, everybody's got a hungry heart..." _

The radio on the side table kept crooning as the girl shifted in bed. She had a head full of blonde hair, sun-lightened and windblown. Orsay immediately knew that this was her dream, and her name was whispered all throughout her subconscious.

_Alex. Alexamin Lucine._

She curled up closer to the boy, and he pressed his cheek to the top of her head. He was a blonde as well, but darker than her.

Both seemed to be naked, but that didn't bother Orsay very much. She'd seen much worse in her dream-travels.

_"Everybody needs a place to rest... Everybody wants to have a home..."_

Orsay felt herself being tugged out of the dream. That was strange; the dreaming usually ended only when the dreamer noticed her. But the setting blurred, and she was pulled into another dream.

This one also had music, but it was soft. Piano.

She was in a huge church. It was badly lit, the only light filtered down through badly cared for stained glass windows. Dust was everywhere, coating old pews, floating in the tepid air. The music floated down from the stage; a baby grand was nestled in one corner, and the blonde girl from the last dream was sitting at it.

But it wasn't her dream. The voices layered underneath whispered _Drake Merwin._

The girl played the piano and sang.

_"Help, I have done it again, I have been here many times before, hurt myself again today, and the worst part is I have no one else to blame... Be my friend, hold me, wrap me up, unfold me... I am small, I'm needy, warm me up and breathe me..."_

"Pretty," a drawling voice came from behind Orsay. She instinctively ducked behind a pew. "Write that yourself?"

It was the boy from the other dream, but this was his. Drake Merwin.

Orsay stifled a gasp. In Alex's dream, he had seemed completely human, but this version had a long, blood-red tentacle in place of his left arm. It was wrapped languidly around his waist, and he smiled a shark's smile.

"I did," she replied, her voice meek. "Do you like it?"

"Somewhat." He came and sat behind her on the bench. For a moment, terror flicked across the girl's face, and Drake seemed to revel in that. "I didn't ask you to stop playing, Alex. Continue, please."

Her fingers resumed their dance. "Why are you here?"

"What, you don't want a visit from your boyfriend?" He smirked. "I'm here to tell you how the takeover's going. Sam's on the run, and I just took down Caine. Me, I did it!" He crowed viciously, grabbing her shoulders, forcing her to stop playing. "I took down Caine, Alex. Sam's next. This is happening."

"I'm happy for you, Drake." She said the words, and he seemed to believe them.

"Me and the gaiaphage. Took them all down."

She resumed playing.

"You keep saying that name, but you won't tell me what it means."

"Wouldn't you like to know," he said, giving her another shark smile. "I'll meet you at home, after I find Sam. Wear something nice tonight; I'll be in a good mood."

He stood and swaggered off of the stage.

"I love you," she called after him.

"Doesn't everybody?" he answered without turning around.

And then his eyes met Orsay's.

The dream shattered as Orsay's hair was ripped back, and she made a strangled noise. A hand was clamped over her mouth, and she writhed and struggled.

"You were in my head," a voice rasped out. "You were in my dream."

"What's going on?" a girl's sleepy voice called. "Drake, what's going on?"

"I found someone." Drake's grip on her hair didn't lighten as he yanked her to her feet. "Alex, we have a house guest."

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**Well, there it is. Thanks for reading, feel more than free to shoot me a review.**

**-Hype**


	32. Popular Song

**Hi! Dang, I wonder how long this'll last. I'm updating like a fiend. Anyway, thank you so much for your awesome reviews, keep them coming, please. They're like fuel :)**

**DISCLAIMER: Yup, don't own Gone, that's the property of Michael Grant. And the song belongs to Mika and Ariana Grande. I decided to do a fun one this time :)**

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**Chapter Thirty-Two: Popular Song**

"Drake. Drake Merwin! Are you going to explain yourself or what?"

Orsay was dragged into the house, the girl's voice surrounding her. She sounded mad, and weary beyond belief. The boy called Drake threw her onto a couch, holding her down with his tentacle. She could feel it pulsing, pressed against her abdomen.

"What... what do you want with me?" she choked out.

"You were in my head, sweetheart." Drake shot her a glimpse of the sharklike grin she had seen in his dream. "That's not a place I want anyone to snoop through, if you get my drift."

"I didn't see anything," she managed to say. "I promise."

He bent down, and his breath tickled her ear. "I know what you saw. It really doesn't matter much, but I don't really want you telling Sammy my dreams for his future."

"I don't even know who-"

"And besides, you may be useful."

"Okay, who on earth is she?" A girl leapt down the last three steps. She was wearing dirty jean shorts and an even dirtier men's shirt, sleeves cut off. "And why is she sitting on our couch?"

_Our? _Orsay thought. _Oh. This must be Alex._

The girl looked nothing like she had in her dream. In the beachhouse she had been clean, perfect, hair long and shining. In reality, her hair was definitely long, but it was stringy, dirty, and thrown up in a messy ponytail. She wore no makeup, had dark circles under her eyes, but her arms were tanned, sinewy, and strong. There was an unsheathed machete casually hanging through one of her belt loops. In short, she terrified Orsay.

Drake terrified her more. His gray t-shirt hid the rest of the tentacle, but the three-foot length of it that she _could_ see was enough. She wondered briefly how it happened; how he mutated like that.

"_This_, Alex, is..." he trailed off.

"Orsay," she squeaked. Alex walked over.

"All right, Orsay, can I ask you why my boyfriend's pinning you to the couch?"

Drake retracted his tentacle so fast that the end scraped Orsay across the cheek. "I wasn't pinning her, I was restraining her," he grumbled.

"Yeah, Drake, she really looks like she needs restraining." Alex shone a bright smile towards Orsay, that seemed at least partially sincere. "Orsay, I'm sorry for him, and the whip arm, and... Him. What brings you to 221 Brace Road?"

"I was on your back porch," Orsay began. Alex sat on the cushion next to her. Drake stood, whip arm and normal arm crossed. "I've never been into town before. My dad was a park ranger before... Before everyone disappeared."

"They're calling it the FAYZ," Alex interrupted. "Like, 'it's just a phase'. Are you fifteen yet?"

"I just turned fourteen a few days ago, I think."

"Well, we'll talk about the poof later. I'll let Sam fill you in on most of that stuff; he's the mayor or something around here. This other guy, Caine, has a crew up at the boarding school. We're kind of enemies."

"Wait," Drake burst in. "You can't take her to Sam!" Both girls looked at him.

"Uh, why not?" Alex scooted forward.

"She was _in my head_. She saw my dreams. She probably saw yours, too!"

Orsay glanced at Alex, who had suddenly blushed a deep red. Drake noticed too, and smirked.

"Whatcha dreamin' there, buddy?"

"Shut up," she snapped. "What are _you_ dreaming about that you want to keep from Sam so badly?"

"I'd like to keep everything from Sam, to be honest, especially the things that go on in my head when I fall asleep." Alex shrugged, like _yeah that makes total sense_. Who was this Sam guy, and why did Drake hate him so much?

"So, Orsay, I guess this is what we have to do." Alex had the full attention of both Orsay and Drake. "You have information on both Drake and myself, so you either stay and hang out with us, or I'll let Drake put you in the basement."

Drake looked at her, completely shocked.

"For real?"

She shrugged. "She has some sort of power. If she won't go with us, and she can't go to Sam, then the only other option is Caine. And..."

"Nope, she's not getting to Caine."

"Excuse me!" Orsay raised her voice for the first time. "I'm sorry that I trespassed in your heads and saw things I shouldn't have. But if you keep me around, it's going to keep happening. I can't control it, and all humans dream."

Alex and Drake shared a look.

"But if I stick with you guys," she took a deep breath, "I swear on my life that I'll never betray you."

Drake gave Alex an almost imperceptible nod, and stuck out his tentacle arm.

"Shake on it."

Trying not to let any fear or disgust show on her face, Orsay gripped the very tip of Drake's anomaly. It writhed, and she flinched.

Drake chuckled. "Alright then. Looks like we have a new friend."

Orsay wondered, not for the first time, if she had made a terrible mistake.

XxXxX

Alex woke about four hours later, the events of the night completely forgotten. She noticed that she was wearing actual clothes, and shrugged.

But everything came rushing back as soon as she walked into the kitchen and saw Drake and Orsay having a glare-off over three hunks of cabbage.

"Can you tell your _boyfriend_-" Orsay began, but Drake cut her off.

"This assface can't cut cabbage to save her life!"

Alex deftly swiped the knife from Orsay's grip, and pointed it at Drake, who had stood in rage. "One, sit down. And two, assface? Really?"

Drake didn't sit down, but gestured, speechless and choking on anger, at the three slices of cabbage. They looked perfectly fine to Alex, but she couldn't side with Orsay without Drake acting like a total... Well, assface for the rest of the day.

"Orsay, maybe you could try cutting them a little more evenly. And Drake, maybe you could act like less of a raging psychopath over cabbage. Save that for Caine, all right?"

He sneered, but sat back down. She joined them at the circular table, and all three of them wordlessly began chewing cabbage.

No more words were said. Drake left, slamming the door a little bit more violently than was needed.

"Is he always like that?" Orsay asked as the two girls stacked the plates and returned them to the cabinet.

"That was nice Drake," she replied. "You learn to love it."

Orsay shrugged and changed the subject. "What do you do all day?"

"Drake's off to fish with this guy Quinn, and I go into the cabbage fields with Howard and Orc."

"Orc? Like, Lord Of The Rings?"

"Yeah. He's a rock monster; don't mention it around him, though. His real name's Charles, and he's actually pretty chill."

"Tentacle arms and rock monsters," Orsay whispered. Her light blue eyes were wide and full of apprehension. Alex laid a hand on the other girl's shoulder, trying to give her a reassuring smile.

"It's not exactly normal life around here. You'll get used to it."

"Like I'll learn to love Drake?" she shot back. "I doubt it."

Alex let the jibe roll right off of her back. This girl was her ally now, for better or for worse. "Come on, Howard's bound to be in the square by now."

XxXxX

"This sucks," Orsay shouted. She was third in line; Orc in the field, Alex on the border, Orsay, and then Howard by the truck. They were an hour into tossing cabbages, and it looked like even Orc was getting tired.

"I know," Alex yelled back. "Break, Howard?"

"Yep. Break, Orc!" he hollered.

Orc came lumbering out of the field and Howard tossed him a beer.

"Budweiser, ladies?" He held out two cans, smirking.

"Aren't those supposedly Sam's?" Alex asked. "You know, to pay Orc with?" Howard wiggled his eyebrows.

"Do you see Sam around? Or Albert?"

"Good point." Alex grabbed a can, cracked the tab, and drank deep. "Oh, this stuff is gross."

"First drink?" Orc snickered, as much as a rock giant can snicker.

"Shut up."

The four of them sat and drank in silence, until Alex stood up and plugged her iPod into the speakers that outfitted their Jeep. "Music, anyone?"

"You have an iPod?" Orsay said.

Howard laughed loudly. "Obviously she doesn't know you very well, Alex."

"D'you want to pick, Orsay?" Alex offered, surprised at herself. Was she being too generous to this new girl; this girl who didn't like Drake and complained about having to throw cabbage?

Orsay took the iPod and began to flick through it. "You have a ton of music."

"Yep," Alex replied. "It's kind of my favorite thing in the world."

"Really." Orsay didn't sound surprised, more like she was storing information away for later use. Alex narrowed her eyes. _Who is this girl? Did I make a horrible mistake letting her join up with us?_

And then Orsay said, "I love this song!" and bumped something from Mika, and everything was all right for a little while. As the beginning beat played, Alex glanced at Orsay.

"We're singing," she said, "and this is a duet. Who'd you want to be?"

Orsay's eyes widened a bit, but she took it in stride. "Ariana."

_Typical._

_"You were the popular one, the popular chick,"_ Orsay sang along with the speakers. _"It is what it is, now I'm popular-ish..."_

_"Standin' in the field with your pretty pom-poms, now you're workin' at the movies sellin' popular corn,"_ Alex broke in, loudly and unabashed. Orsay cracked a smile. _"I coulda been a mess, but I never went wrong, 'cause I'm puttin' down my story in a popular song!"_

_"Ahh, I said I'm puttin' down my story in a popular song!"_ Orsay sang. The girl was getting into it, and it was Alex's turn to smile.

_"My problem, I never was a model, I never was a scholar,"_ the two girls sang together. _"But you were always popular! You were singing all the songs I don't know, now you're in the front row, 'cause my song is popular!"_

_"Popular, I know about popular! It's not about who you are, or your fancy car, you're only ever who you were... Popular, I know about popular! And all that you have to do, is be true to you, that's all you ever need to know..."_

_"So catch up!" _Orsay yelled, grinning hugely.

_"'Cause you got an awful long way to go!" _Alex finished, dancing around the Jeep. Orc was laughing, but Howard was looking at something in the distance.

"Uh, girls?"

_"So catch up!" _Orsay repeated.

_"'Cause you got an awful long way to go!" _Alex belted out.

"YO," Howard bellowed. "Turn that down! Someone's coming!"

Alex turned the music down reluctantly. "What's the big deal, Bassem?"

"It's a Land Rover, and it's coming from town."

"It's prob'ly Albert," Orc said, downing another can of beer.

"Screw Albert," Howard said. "And I don't think it's him. I have a real bad feeling about this."

"All right, Mr. Premonition," Alex joked. "I'll bet it's nothing. Maybe it's backup. Or someone else coming to do our job."

But Howard's bad feeling invaded her heart as well, and as the Land Rover approached, she started wishing that it would just drive past and leave them in the dust.

Her wishes did nothing, and the car stopped right in front of them and Sam, Astrid, and Albert all got out of it. Howard, Orc, and Alex all stood in a line, leaving Orsay back at the Jeep.

Sam cleared his throat. "Alex, I've heard rumors that both you and Drake are harboring a girl with potentially serious powers, intending to never let anyone else know about her. Is this true?"

Orsay peeked around the side of the car, and Alex watched Sam's eyes lock onto her.

"Is this true?" he repeated. Orc and Howard were both looking at her, shock on both of their faces. Astrid's arms were crossed.

"Of course not," Alex replied.

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**And there we have it! Please leave a review. I love hearing back from you guys!**

**-Hype**


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